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.
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