Examples Of Lee In East Of Eden

It is difficult to imagine possessing an identity torn between a nation in decline and a nation on the rise. China, being a land heavily influenced by European countries and still recovering from wars and rebellions, was nothing like the rapidly growing industrial giant of the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Lee, the Chinese servant of the Trask family in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, faces the struggle of being a Chinese American during a time where national identity became increasingly important. Throughout the story, Lee witnesses the Trask family involuntarily mirror the sibling rivalry of Cain and Abel, part of an inescapable generational cycle. This, coupled with the Trask family’s interlaced destiny with the Hamilton

When Samuel Hamilton, a fellow immigrant, suggests that Lee can escape having to hide his intelligence by going to China, Lee reveals, “‘I did go back to China…It didn’t work. They said I looked like a foreign devil; they said I spoke like a foreign devil. I made mistakes in my manners, and I didn’t know delicacies that had grown up… I’m less foreign here than I was in China’” (Steinbeck 123). Faced with stereotypes in America, Lee is also tormented in China for his American nationality and lack of modern cultural awareness. Both communities view Lee and Chinese-Americans as “others”, refusing to fully accept them culturally or socially. Lee is foreign everywhere, since he is not a white American or a Chinese citizen. Only able to find solidarity in the community of “othered” Chinese-Americans, Lee feels more accepted in America than in China. However, those that only see Lee for his ethnicity and not for his inner person are racist against him because he does not fit the mold of what a “perfect” American is supposed to look and sound like. Because of this, Lee often has no choice but to play into American stereotypes. Around others, Lee uses pidgin and a thick Chinese accent in order to sound submissive, stereotypical, and not intellectually equal to those around him. If Lee were to drop his pidgin, he “wouldn’t be understood… pidgin they expect, and pidgin

Throughout Lee’s interactions with characters in the novel, his personality develops and progresses in a way that highlights him coming to terms with his inner struggles, and adapting to the way he presents himself. The novel’s undertones of the evils of racism are practically unprecedented in mainstream classic American literature, making East of Eden revolutionary. Many of Steinbeck’s criticisms of American racism still hold today, with communities being alienated and having to code switch constantly. Better understanding the racism prevalent in East of Eden will foster a better understanding of prejudice still harbored in today’s