Adieu, East of Eden

East of Eden. I do not know what to say about it. I loved it, I hated it, I loved all the characters, yet all characters had despicable and hateful aspects. It’s just so mesmerizing and beautifully crafted that I cannot say anything other than “read it”. I really wish that we could read it as a class, because I’m curious what everyone would say and think of the plot and the characters. I keep on saying this over and over, if I have enough time, I would love to read detailed analysis on this book, whether it be a biblical one, or just literary devices. I think that would open up my eyes to understand deeper meanings and messages. As I don’t want to ruin the book for anyone, I think I’ll just post about what I found particularly interesting, or mind-blowing. As a Christian, I read bible every night, but it never occurred to me that the slight variation in different bibles can mean a complete different message. The word “timshel” in Hebrew is mentioned throughout the book, which means “thou mayest”. That got me wondering… if different bibles have different meanings that mean different things, which on are we supposed to believe and follow? Lee, a Chinese servant, studied with older scholars to find the true meaning of this word by studying Hebrew. He reminded me of a close family friend who studies Latin, Hebrew, and other languages to feel the true meanings of certain words. He told me that when a language is translated, its full meaning and connotation is lost. It was really fun for me to see a parallel between one of the characters and someone who is close to me in real life.

In the past posts, I have mentioned that there are not that many biblical references, except I was wrong. Obviously, one of the main character’s name is Adam (I can’t believe I missed on that one!) and the passage of Cain and Abel is a recurring theme. The 1^st generation of Adam and Charles represents Cain and Abel, where Charles is driven mad of jealousy, and tries to murder Adam. Though Charles gives expensive gifts to his father, the father simply neglects it and adores Adam’s gift, which was a puppy. Later in the story, where Adam has children of his own, his twin sons, Aron and Cal, is similar, where Aron is the adored one and Cal is always the one who is thirsty for love. This only proves to show that the blood of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel is all running through us, which makes the human tendency to be jealous, angry, and flawed.

Also, I saw the relationship between Adam and his wife as the common relationship between God and the people. Adam, who is very forgiving and pours out his endless, great love for his wife does not want anything back from her, except a mere show of affection. However, Cathy continues to sin, and refuses to love him back. Adam’s care, forgiveness, and promises for a bright future was strikingly similar to how God portrays his love for us as well. Furthermore, the meaning of Eden, where Adam talks of the land that he is going to build for his wife and children was just like the intention of Eden and possibly even Heaven as well.

The best character in the story would have to be Lee. I do not know if it is simply due to the fact that I am also Asian, but I could relate to him a lot. For example, he can speak perfect English, yet he speaks like a Chinese person would by saying “Me talkee Chinese talk”. I think the way he described it was so beautiful. "It's more than a convenience, it's even more than self-protection. Mostly we have to use it to be understood at all.” ~ Lee. He was talking about how the society expects some things by a simply judge of your appearance, and if you don’t act accordingly, people do not understand you, or even accept you. The things that he say is just so philosophical, and everything he does is so gentle, compassionate, and good-willed. His existence was what made me attached to the story even more.

This story is very deep, yet it is not at all hard to read or push through. There are so many events that happen that you just cannot put the book down. You are practically glued to this book until you reach the end. What I thought was unique about this book was the way it was chronologically written, and how different characters merge and a new generation is born. It is really interesting and true how though the characters are changed, the human nature of jealousy, hatred, and love still remains, and it is ultimately the same story over again. Just to put it out there: Thank you, John Steinbeck!