Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Love and Hate
What is love? Many people have asked that question over the years, and many answers have been given. Adam believes that he has found love in Cathy, but has he really? I feel as though he has just become infatuated with her and has fallen in love with her good looks. Since he does not know her on a personal level, and has not even had more than a handful of conversation with her before he decides to marry her. He only wishes to sweep her off her feet and to care for her because that is all he knows. He does not even realize it when Cathy is unable to respond with the same amount of admiration because it is foreign to her, and he does not pick up on it because he had never received it before. He does not know what it feels like to receive affection. He only desires to care for someone as he has during his time in the military. The only relationship he has the consists of love is with his brother Charles who loves him despite the way he acts. At first glance one would think that he hates Adam when really he does not. Charles loves Adam and becomes depressed when he leaves him. All Charles wants is companionship with Adam and becomes lonely every time Adam leaves him for one of his adventures. He is at fault for allowing his jealousy to come between them, if he was able to love Adam without it then they would have a closer bond. He even tries to warn him about Cathy when Adam marries her. Cathy seems to be unable to love anyone including herself. She does not have enough self respect to not sleep around and maintain her dignity. She has the opportunity to find a suitable partner, such as Adam, but does not want to and decides to refuse love and only sleep around with various men. It is almost as though she hates everyone, even herself. She sets her parents' house on fire and killing them, she attempts to kill her own unborn child and almost kills herself showing that she does not cherish her life, and she condemns herself to live a hard life having to sell her body for a living instead of living comfortably with Adam and her children.
East of Eden Part One
How do the patriarchs, Samuel Hamilton and Cyrus Trask-and their respective families-differ? Compare their different moral environments.How are the children in Part One influenced by their perceived flaws in their fathers, and how do they respond? What are the consequences of parental love, neglect or rejection among the Hamilton and Trask family?
Samuel and Cyrus lead their families in completely opposite ways. Cyrus has a firm grip on his family and steers them in the direction of order and organization. He is essentially a dictator in his family and shows no signs of affection. Cyrus even admits to Adam that " I love you better. Else why would I have given myself the trouble of hurting you"(Steinbeck pg. 28). He believes in tough love, and favors one son over the other. "I did not love him. Maybe he loved me. He tested me, and hurt me and punished me and finally he sent me out like a sacrifice"(pg. 70). His use of tough love makes Adam cower and fear his father, and ultimately is the reason that Adam does not love his father. He makes his wife and children fear them, but also respect him due to all the lies he tells about his military career. The family follows the path of evil after their father.Cyrus steals money during his service with the U.S. government, Cyrus chooses the path of jealousy, and Adam follows Cathy and her path of destruction.The family develops in an immoral and unaffectionate environment which ends up affecting the children long term. Samuel is a loving father who cares for his children equally. They are steered down the right road with affection and the nurturing of their own individuality. Their mother rules them with one iron clamp on them and another hand clasped around the Bible. Their mother "was a good woman and raised good children. She could hold her head up anywhere"(pg.43). Even though they grow up on an infertile land they do not let it effect the overall good mood of the family. In both the Hamilton and Trask family the sons are affected by their fathers. When Samuel first moved to the Salinias he was looked at closely and no one trusted him. "And perhaps when Will was a little boy he heard the talk in the San Lucas store.....Will might have picked up his conservatism right then"(pg. 39). Will became conservative and worked not to different from other men so that there would not be talk about him like he heard about his father before he was accepted into the community. He was ashamed and embarrassed of his father and worked to be different from his so he would not be regarded the same way. Tom Hamilton is alike his father and was greatly influenced by him he is "most like his father..........but bolder"(pg. 40). He was inventive but has witness his father's tentativeness and failures and reaches out to be more and to be successful. Then there is Joe who was lazy. "It was easier to do Joe's work than to make him do it"(pg.41). Joe is coddled in the family and does not do any work for himself which has handicapped him. His father's decision to allow Joe to be so lazy and nurture him has made him incompetent. In the Trask family love is not a known and it greatly impacts the relationship of the brothers. Cyrus neglects both of his children but especially Charles he does not pay attention to the gift that was given to him causing Charles pain and confusion. It creates a deep fury inside of Charles causing him to beat Adam which in return makes Adam fear his brother even more.
Samuel and Cyrus lead their families in completely opposite ways. Cyrus has a firm grip on his family and steers them in the direction of order and organization. He is essentially a dictator in his family and shows no signs of affection. Cyrus even admits to Adam that " I love you better. Else why would I have given myself the trouble of hurting you"(Steinbeck pg. 28). He believes in tough love, and favors one son over the other. "I did not love him. Maybe he loved me. He tested me, and hurt me and punished me and finally he sent me out like a sacrifice"(pg. 70). His use of tough love makes Adam cower and fear his father, and ultimately is the reason that Adam does not love his father. He makes his wife and children fear them, but also respect him due to all the lies he tells about his military career. The family follows the path of evil after their father.Cyrus steals money during his service with the U.S. government, Cyrus chooses the path of jealousy, and Adam follows Cathy and her path of destruction.The family develops in an immoral and unaffectionate environment which ends up affecting the children long term. Samuel is a loving father who cares for his children equally. They are steered down the right road with affection and the nurturing of their own individuality. Their mother rules them with one iron clamp on them and another hand clasped around the Bible. Their mother "was a good woman and raised good children. She could hold her head up anywhere"(pg.43). Even though they grow up on an infertile land they do not let it effect the overall good mood of the family. In both the Hamilton and Trask family the sons are affected by their fathers. When Samuel first moved to the Salinias he was looked at closely and no one trusted him. "And perhaps when Will was a little boy he heard the talk in the San Lucas store.....Will might have picked up his conservatism right then"(pg. 39). Will became conservative and worked not to different from other men so that there would not be talk about him like he heard about his father before he was accepted into the community. He was ashamed and embarrassed of his father and worked to be different from his so he would not be regarded the same way. Tom Hamilton is alike his father and was greatly influenced by him he is "most like his father..........but bolder"(pg. 40). He was inventive but has witness his father's tentativeness and failures and reaches out to be more and to be successful. Then there is Joe who was lazy. "It was easier to do Joe's work than to make him do it"(pg.41). Joe is coddled in the family and does not do any work for himself which has handicapped him. His father's decision to allow Joe to be so lazy and nurture him has made him incompetent. In the Trask family love is not a known and it greatly impacts the relationship of the brothers. Cyrus neglects both of his children but especially Charles he does not pay attention to the gift that was given to him causing Charles pain and confusion. It creates a deep fury inside of Charles causing him to beat Adam which in return makes Adam fear his brother even more.
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