The Shades of Good and Evil

Bastien Millo

Professor Burnette

English: composition and literature II

5 March 2019

The Shades of Good and Evil

The quest of finding what is good or evil in East of Eden is very complicated. It is though, very dualistic. On one side there is Cathy, the evil incarnated, and on the other side Adam, almost too good for the evilness of Cathy. In the novel, the theme of good and evil is represented several times through the story of Cain and Abel: the story of one brother who decides to kill his other brother because of jealousy from God. This story is then repeated when Adam is jealous of Charles. The concept of good and evil is more complex than it looks. The occidental population tends to have the idea of goodness and evilness being separated by a definite line. However, a French novel Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel proves that this way of thinking is wrong. The story is happening during the first World War, very close to the front line. The main characters are living different complex and tragic moment of their life. It will prove that people are not only good, or evil, but more on the grey level.

“East of Eden” is a novel which the story grows around another biblical story of Cain and Abel. It is about two sons that both decides to offer different object to God. Abel offers his sheep, and Cain his product from the field. God receives the gift from Abel but refuses Cain’s gift. The consequence of this act is that Cain feels rejected from God and decides to kill Abel in revenge. The theme of this story is then repeated with Adam and Charles. Adam feels rejection from his father over his love for his other son. Adam then decides to kill his brother from jealousy. Those two stories prove the presence of evilness in each person in the novel. The nature of Adam is quite complex. He is described by Lee as two good with Cathy during his life with her. However, Adam shows his evilness, first when he killed his brother, but a second time as well when he says to Cathy that she is a monster, half human, unable to do good. The concept of goodness in this passage is very subjective. According to Adam, Cathy is not able to do good because she only showed her evil part to him. By consequence, Adam judges Cathy only by what he sees from her. He does not try to give her a chance to explain herself after saying that she is a monster. With the character of Cathy, Steinbeck puts very specific limits to what is good and what is evil.

It would be well thought to consider Cathy as a very complex character of this novel. Every other character considers Cathy as evil and unable to do good. However, the concept of good and evil is not fixed. “Our society has built into it the idea that Good and Evil have existed since the dawn of time, that they came into existence with the universe, and that we are trapped between them” (Pyle). Because the society does not know where good and evil come from, it is less likely to expect that this same society knows what good and evil exactly are. In the novel, Cathy is described as evil from the majority. However, it is never proved that the majority is good. Cathy is considered as evil because she does not act like a “normal” human being would act. Because she is different, she is automatically put in the evil box. The idea that good and evil could have different shapes is fully rejected in the novel. The modern occidental society is based on labels and rules, especially the U.S.A. When a person does not fit in the labels, or breaks the law, that same person is rapidly considered as dangerous, evil, and considered as a monster, and dangerous. This same society is completely closed minded to accept that someone can be different to their own community, and that the rules can be broken for noble reasons. The same issue occurs in the novel. The majority has said that Cathy is evil and unable to do good. By consequence, she must be that way. The concept of good and evil is mainly relative to each individual. As subjective as good and evil is, those two concept are a struggle to the characters on the novel.

The pursue of being good in the novel is very complex and usually filled with regrets. Every main character has encounter, in their lives, a moment of choice between goodness and evilness: Adam before killing Charles, Cal with Aron joining the army. In between of those struggles, there is Cathy. According to the narrator, Cathy never feels guilt for what she did in her past. At one point in the novel, Lee introduce the concept of Timshel. The capacity of doing good. To do good, one person needs to understand what goodness is, and having guilts in their life, so the desire to do good is real. Once again, because Cathy is not seen as having goodness in her. The characters do not think she can have Timshel in her because their thought on what good and evil diverge from Cathy’s.

Timshel is the a concept that goes during the entire novel. It is even Adam’s last word to Cal before dying. The concept of Timshel lets think that everyone, if that person chooses to, can do good. “the implications of the Hebrew word ‘Timshel,’ which Steinbeck interprets to mean ‘thou mayest’ (rather than ‘thou shalt’) conquer over sin. Given a choice, man is free and can decide for himself” (Max). The Steinbeck’s interpretation of Timshel proves again that his point of view on good and evil is labeled precisely. He believes that people can decide to conquer sins and be good. It is not shown that Steinbeck may think that everybody’s evilness is a part of the soul. As in the common believes, the Man is not perfect. However, Steinbeck, through East of Eden showed that religion as pushed people to attempt perfection, idealized by the image of God. According to the Bible, sins is bad. By consequence, doing something considered as evil, is not prolific for people’s lives. It is unreachable for a human to be only good only by the fact that goodness to relative to each individual. By consequence, a person will always have a part of evilness in him, or her. The novel Grey Souls demonstrate that everyone can live with evilness in them.