A Study Guide for John Steinbeck's East of Eden

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for John Steinbeck's "East of Eden," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Aug 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781535822336

Book preview

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East of Eden

John Steinbeck

1952

Introduction

East of Eden (1952, New York) by John Steinbeck tells the stories of three generations of the Trask and Hamilton families. It is mostly set in the Salinas Valley in California and spans a period of nearly sixty years, from about 1860 to 1918. The novel focuses on the theme of good against evil and makes prominent use of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, in which Cain murders his brother out of jealousy after God rejects his gift but accepts Abel's. In the novel, Steinbeck ascribes great significance to his translation of the Hebrew word timshel (thou mayest) in the Cain and Abel story. He believes it demonstrates that humans have free will and can triumph over sin if they choose to do so.

Reviewers were quick to point out the flaws in structure and theme in this long novel, and later critics have in general not regarded it as the equal of Steinbeck's finest works. However, the story of the Trask family is a powerful, if melodramatic one, and the Hamilton chapters show Steinbeck's ability to create living characters and set them in motion is undiminished. The selection of East of Eden by Oprah Winfrey for her book club (2003) revived reader interest in this serious but entertaining novel that endeavors to lift up the human spirit in the face of everything that would destroy it. As a result of Oprah's selection, this book was reissued in a 2003 edition by Penguin publications.

Author Biography

John Ernst Steinbeck was born February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California, the son of John Ernst Steinbeck and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919, and enrolled at Stanford University. He attended classes sporadically but left the university in 1925 without a degree. He moved to New York City to pursue a career as a writer but met with little success. Returning to California, he married Carol Henning in 1930.

Steinbeck supported himself by doing various odd jobs, including caretaker of an estate and fruit-picker. His first novel Cup of Gold (1929) went largely unnoticed and did not even recoup the very small advance the publisher gave him. Two subsequent novels The Pastures of Heaven (1932) and To a God Unknown (1933) fared no better. The first of Steinbeck's novels to attract