In a seemingly peaceful and serene place called Salinas Valley is a lattice of tightly knit households in a small community. I this valley, those with fertile land are rich and those without are poor. In the first 25 pages of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, many families are portrayed and their familial histories shuffled. In the midst of looking through such familial histories, dark pasts unfold: a mother/wife drowns herself in a puddle of water not a foot deep. So far, the focus of the book are the Hamilton and Trask families. The Hamiltons have a surplus of kids and the Trasks have two sons which in a sense resemble Cain and Abel. "Chstlrd moved close and struck him in the face with his bat...swung his bat and hit him in the ribs...swung at his head and knocked him out. And as Adam lay unconscious on the ground, Charles kicked him heavily in the stomach and walked away" (pg 23). Maybe just a bit brutal for beating him in a game of peewee, the younger, beat the older brother because he won one lousy game. In addition to enduring such beatings, Adam will be forced to join the military while Charles the violent one won't be forced to join the military.
Will this relationship between brothers eventually lead to fratricide? Being the elder brother, should Adam put Charles in his place? Why will Adam and not Charles be forced to join the military?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Fratricide: no.
Adam is oldest, therefore it would be anticipated that he would be compelled to join the army. Also, Adam is obviously not strong or intimidating enough in demeanor to subjugate Charles.
adam should stand up to charles but he wont; charles is too intimidating. and charles is a tad mad, so unleashing that beast in war wouldnt be a good idea :D:D
Post a Comment