Book: East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck
Publication: 1952
Pages: 602
Completion Date: 6/8/25
Why I read this book?
I read this book because I had read two other books by John Steinbeck & thoroughly enjoyed them. Somewhere along the line, someone told me about this book and I added it to my list. Personally, I think this is the best of the three books.
Plot of the story
This book started in about 1862 and revolves around two primary families and one secondary person. It begins with Cyrus Trask, who joined the Union Army in 1862 and was wounded in his first battle, losing the bottom portion of a leg. He returned to his farm in Massachusetts to a wife and newborn son, named Adam. Soon after, his first wife died and he remarried with a second son, Charles following soon after. Adam was more reserved & Charles was meaner, more athletic and more competitive. They both competed for their father’s love and he pushed them hard with lessons from the Army – hiking, close-order-drills, carrying knapsacks of stones and practicing marksmanship. Cyrus began embellishing his service record and ended up working for the Grand Army of the Republic, rubbing elbows with the Secretary of War & other senior government leaders. At the age of 18, Cyrus signed up Adam for the US Cavalry and he fought Indians for about ten years while Charles stayed home to run the farm. Adam was a traveling hobo for about four years after ousting from the Army and before returning home in about 1894. Right before he got home, Charles received word that Cyrus had died, leaving ~$105,000 in cash, bonds & securities to his two sons. Adam & Charles lived together for periods of time on the home farm managed by Charles, fought and Adam left (only to return) and would then do it all over again.
Simultaneously, Samuel & Eliza Hamilton were Irish immigrants who settled in the harsh, dry foot-hills of the Salinas Valley in California. They had nine children and Sam worked as a blacksmith, well digger, inventor, equipment improver, etc. as the 1760 acre ranch did not have adequate water to support the family by growing livestock. Samuel was remarkably well read and educated for his time and location – both geographically and within society.
Cathy Ames was a pretty, innocent looking child, but had a way of mentally controlling adults. She started high school at the age of 14 and wanted to quit at 16. Due to increased discipline from her parents, she lit the house on fire killing her parents and escaped to Boston. She connected to a pimp, but he fell in love with her and never turned her out. Due to her control, he bought her a house, jewels, etc. One night while drinking, he realized the evil monster that she was and took her out into the country to kill her. She survived and dragged her broken body to the Trask home. They nursed her back to health. Adam was invigorated by her, fell in love & married her one afternoon. Adam indicated they were moving to California, even though she did not want to go. The night before they left, she drugged Adam and slept with Charles.
When Adam & Cathy got to Salinas, he bought one of the nicest farms in the valley, not far from the Hamilton’s. He rebuilt the house, had Samuel Hamilton drill irrigation wells & hired a Chinese cook/housekeeper named Lee. By this time, we know that Cathy is pregnant, even though they only
slept together once and she tried giving herself an abortion (unbeknownst to Adam). Neither Sam nor Lee had a good vibe from Cathy and she did not like them. When the delivery came, Adam was frantic so Sam delivered what turned out to be twin boys, who she never nursed or touched. After two weeks, she shot Adam in the shoulder and escaped to the nearest large city of Salinas. She changed her name to Kate and became a well-known prostitute earning premium prices under the tutelage of a madam named Faye.
Adam did not mentally recover for about ten years, although he finally came to enough to at least name the boys Caleb and Aron when the boys were about 14 months old (under guidance from Sam & Lee). Lee raised them. Samuel visited the family when the boys were about 11 years old. He physically beat Adam until Adam regained his mind and finally became a father. Meanwhile in Salinas, Kate groomed & killed Faye and assumed ownership of the brothel.
There was a chapter discussing all of Sam & Liza’s nine children – what they were like, where they moved, who they married and their occupations. Eventually, Sam & Liza moved away from the ranch and lived with their kids in Salinas. Right before Sam left, he told Adam where Cathy was and what she was doing as Adam did not know until then. Soon after moving to town, Sam died and Adam attended his funeral in Salinas, after which he visited Cathy and realized she was pure evil and she only saw evil in other people. Adam was the opposite – he only saw the good in people. Later, the Trask family met the Bacon family, who had a daughter named Abra, a year younger than the twins. Aron immediately fell in love with her.
Adam began missing his brother and wrote him a letter. A law firm wrote back, saying Charles had recently died, leaving Adam & Cathy ~$100,000. In the process of Adam discussing with Lee what to do, Caleb overheard about his mother (until then, the boys thought she was dead). Adam visits Cathy to tell her about her half of the money because he is inherently good and cannot consider the possibility of not paying her half. Before he left Salinas, he bought a house there to move to town so that the boys could get a better education at the city high school. It was at this school that Aron was reacquainted with Abra. As Caleb grew up and caroused around, he learned more about his mother and ultimately visited her – mostly to see if he was evil like her or was his own person. Cal intended to take over the farm after high school, but took a chance and secretly contracted a large acreage of edible beans at 5 cents per pound as he felt the price would increase due to WWI eventually involving the US. He made $15,000 in profit and could not wait to share it with his father, to repay him for a loss he earlier suffered by unsuccessfully sending chilled lettuce to the East Coast in a railcar. Cal wanted to surprise his father during Thanksgiving, when Aron returned from studying to be a minister. Adam had graduated high school a year early so he could attend Stanford.
When Aron came back, Cal gave the money to his dad at dinner, but he revolted by it as he saw it as war profiteering. Due to the anger towards his father, Cal took Aron to meet his mother that night as Aron did not know of her existence or what she did. As a result of this, the following things happened over the following six months:
- Aron joined the Army the day after meeting his mother. He was ultimately sent to France.
- Cal started dating Abra since Aron was gone & broke up with her before he left.
- Adam got sick due to his worry over Aron and from stress of working for the draft board, sending soldiers off to die.
- Kate killed herself and left everything to Aron – her final act of evil, leaving money earned from evil to the son who was purely good. This happened just a few days before the telegram arrives from the US Army, telling Aron’s family that he was killed in battle.
- This causes Adam to have a stroke.
- Cal believes he is evil like his mother (although he is not) and asks for forgiveness from Adam for introducing Aron to Kate, causing him to join the Army and ultimately dying – all because Cal thought his father had rejected him. Lee asks Adam to give Cal his blessing, give him a chance, and free him from his thoughts, which Adam does in the last paragraph of the book.
What I learned from this book:
- Just as Charles thought his father Cyrus loved Adam more, Cal thought Adam loved Aron more. There is a bit of a Cain & Abel model in this book where one son gives a sacrifice to his father, but it isn’t fully received and as a result, one son goes away – leaving the other behind.
- There is a constant fight in this book between pure evil (Cathy/Kate) and pure good
(Samuel/Adam/Lee). Unlike real life, there is not much in between, ie varying levels of goodness & evil.
What I learned from this book that will increase my prospects for success after prison:
- In order to free myself from the negative thoughts as a result of my crime, I may have to ask forgiveness and blessings from those who I wronged. Mostly, this involves my family and friends as I already asked for forgiveness from the victims of the crime.
- True evil exists in life, which you can find in prison. You can find those who are truly good, like some of my friends and my wife.
