The main message of East of Eden seems to be that the individual has a moral and spiritual obligation to discover for themselves whether they have acted for the good or the evil. This is stated outright by the narrator in Chapter 34, “There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well – or ill?” (413). Through his presentation of characters such as Lee the Chinese servant, Samuel Hamilton the Irish immigrant, and Caleb Trask the son of Adam Trask and Cathy Ames, Steinbeck continues to reinforce the idea that each individual must choose his or her path regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in and thus determine whether they wish to live a good or bad life. The moral message of the book, then, is that we should all do what we can to live a good life while the spiritual message is that we will feel better about ourselves if we choose to live for the good regardless of our circumstances or our willingness to attend church. “But ‘Thou mayest’! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win” (Steinbeck 303).
One of the main themes in Steinbeck’s novel is the theme of light versus dark. This is established very early in the book as the author establishes the setting, describing the mountains that surround the valley in these terms. “I remember that the Gabilan Mountains to the east of the valley were light gay mountains full of sun and loveliness and a kind of invitation so that you wanted to climb into their warm foothills almost as you want to climb into the lap of a beloved mother” (Steinbeck 1). While these mountains encouraged one to explore and to live in the light, the Santa Lucias on the other side of the valley are seen as “dark and brooding – unfriendly and dangerous” (Steinbeck 1). Although the narrator cannot rightly say where these associations with the mountains might have come from, he does make the connection between the eastern mountains being the bringers of the daylight and the western mountains as the death of day and beginning of the night. There is a more subtle symbol of light and dark found in the imagery of various cups that are used within the book. For example, when Lee explains to Adam and Samuel what he’s learned about the word timshel and the enlightenment this offers the human soul, the men have gathered around “three little porcelain cups so thin and delicate that the light shone through them” which are filled with a dark liquid, “almost black,” that helps them understand better what Lee is trying to say.
In contrast, the common cup of the other characters is described as being made of some heavy material that will not permit the light to enter while the liquid they drink is most often clear while providing the individual with little clarity and sometimes a great deal of confusion.
I have a friend who is very much like Sam Hamilton except it is a girl.
She is always broke, but she is brilliant in the things that she can do. I have seen very complicated crocheted blankets she’s made for family members alongside pieces of furniture she’s crafted that beautifully accent a particular corner of the room. She can write any kind of business proposal one might need to start up a new business but has never been able to dedicate herself to an idea long enough to propose a business of her own. Whatever she sets her mind to do, it seems she can do it and do it well, but, like Sam, she lacks the business sense to make any of it pay off for her.
Despite this, she has two very happy children and is happily married to a man who adores her. The only way that she is not much like Sam is that she is often saddened because she feels she is not giving her children what they want or needs while Sam was usually happy and felt his children got everything they needed in simply being loved. This difference has caused her to take steps to ensure that her children will not repeat the same mistakes she’s made in terms of business, but still emphasize the need for love and attention within the home. I think this difference will enable her children to be more successful in their futures than Sam’s children were in theirs.