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Free Will In John Steinbeck's 'East Of Eden'

669 Words3 Pages

Vuong Do
Ms. Hinshaw
English 3H, 2
13 September, 2015
Timshel Seashell at the Seashore
Sean Covey once said, “You are free to choose what you want to make of your life. It's called free agency or free will, and it's your birthright“. A life is only worth living if there are rights and freedom. East of Eden is a bibliological novel, written by John Steinbeck, that is based on the Bible. The author uses the characters to symbolize the conflict between good and evil. Timshel is one of the most crucial themes in the book. In East of Eden, Steinbeck attempts to convey the readers that Timshel is the ability for one to make their own decision, and through this, they are able to live happy lives. This is one of the factors that make the book so astounding …show more content…

The book illustrates that sins are passed down from a generation to another, for example, from Cyrus to Adam, then from Adam and Cathy to their sons. An example with best describes this would be Aron. In the book, after he finds out that his evil mother is still alive, Aron is once again haunted by the bad memories. Therefore, Aron decides to shut the world out by joining the army, but in return he has to give up his dream of being a priest and his family. Steinbeck uses this example to show how Aron’s life was destroyed by his mother. Similar to Aron, after Cyrus’s death, Adam and Charles inherit a large amount of money from Cyrus, which somewhat symbolizes the sins that are passed down from Cyrus to Adam. All the bad things he did, for example, lying about the war, stealing money from the GARS, neglecting his sons, now Adam has to carry those sins. As the story progresses, retribution comes and destroys Adam’s life, for the sins that his father created. He was shot by his own wife, he lost a large amount of money from selling, and he had to spend years living in guilt. It is unacceptable that a person is haunted for the rest of their lives for what they didn’t …show more content…

In East of Eden, Steinbeck says, “And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected “ (132). Having a mind is easy, but allowing it to not be controlled is much more difficult. A person with a free mind can act based on what they think. In East of Eden, Cathy is one of the characters who cannot be controlled, “They look at me and thought they knew about me. And I fooled them. And when they thought they could tell me what to do - Oh! That’s when I fooled them best” (465). The people who try to control Cathy, for example, Adam and cathy’s parents, end up in tragedy. Cathy fits Timshel the best because no one can tell her what to do or what to say. Everything she does or every scheme she plans is based on her decision. It is her choice to be manipulative and dishonest. Steinbeck adds Cathy into the story because he wants the readers to make a connection and compare between the people who have free will, versus the people who don’t. In other words, free will allows a person walk their own

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