Sibling Rivalry: Biblical Echoes in John Steinbeck's East of Eden

John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden is the epic story of a California family who struggle to overcome issues of betrayal, infidelity, and the age old battle between good and evil. The story centers around two generations of brothers in the Trask family-Adam and Charles, and Adam's sons Aron and Cal. In each generation, one of the Trask brothers is moral and good while the other brother behaves badly and immorally. Because the good Trask brothers are favored, the bad Trask brothers develop envious tendencies and a recurrent theme of sibling rivalry appears throughout the book. Steinbeck's dramatic account of the Trask brothers and their rivalry in East of Eden is an impressive tale, but it is also a familiar one that closely echoes a story from ancient literature-it is an allusion of the well-known story of Cain and Abel in the Bible.

In the Bible, the brothers Cain and Abel are the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain is "a tiller of the ground" (Gen. 4.2) while Abel is "a keeper of sheep" (Gen. 4.2). One day, both of the men make an offering to God-Cain offers God "the fruit of the ground" (Gen. 4.3), and Abel offers Him "the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" (Gen. 4.5). When God proclaims that he favors Abel's gift over Cain's, Cain becomes angry and jealous towards Abel and he eventually kills him. Although God is fully aware of what has transpired, He asks Cain where Abel is, and Cain answers Him untruthfully saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen.4.9). After God reveals to Cain that He knows of Abel's murder, God banishes Cain to another part of the land and places a mark on him so that no man will kill him.

In East of Eden, the characters of Charles and Adam and Cal and Aron mimic the behavior of Cain and Abel. Not only do the names of the sons begin with the letters "C" and "A," but both Charles and Cal are jealous of their respective siblings as Cain is of Abel. Charles is envious of Adam because he is the favorite of their father Cyrus, and Cal's jealousy towards Aron is also due to the favoritism that Aron receives from their father Adam; however, the relationship between Cal and Aron more closely imitates the story of Cain and Abel because Cal ultimately causes Aron's death. Although Cal does not kill Aron with his own hand, he reveals damaging information about their mother which causes Aron to run off and join the army. Similarly to the question that God asks of Cain, Adam asks Cal about the whereabouts of Aron. Like Cain, Cal is untruthful and tells his father, "'How do I know [...] Am I supposed to look after him?'"(562). Eventually, the family learns that Aron is killed in World War I.

Another connection between the novel and the Genesis story is the title that Steinbeck gives to the book. The words East of Eden are symbolic because they represent an additional parallel. In the Bible, Cain is banished by God "and went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden" (Gen. 4.16). Because of this particular passage, and the fact that Steinbeck chose to name his novel after it, the allusion to the Bible is quite clear-the Trask brothers are undoubtedly patterned after the biblical brothers and Steinbeck has masterfully recreated the ancient story. The ancient literary echo of sibling rivalry has managed to endure from biblical times to the present era, and it will no doubt continue to be a timeless subject in literature for many years to come.

Works Cited

Holy Bible: King James Version. Nashville: World Publishing.

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Penguin, 1952.