East of Eden

But what is even more ironic was that the greatest harm inflicted upon Caleb was by the one he had loved and adored the most, his own father, Adam. Adam’s forgiveness was the most powerful and profound act in the entire book, for it has been said that he who forgives shares the burden of the forgiven, it took tremendous will power merely for Adam to even move, it must have taken all the power of his entire being to whisper the one word that redeemed Caleb and saved him from his own destruction. When Adam rejected the birthday present that Caleb gave him and asked Caleb to give it back to the people he “stole” it from, Caleb’s evil side took over, and he was overwhelmed by envy and hatred. een the two forces, for he is the culmination of both good and evil and the focal point of the story.

The battle may have been won by good, but the cost of victory was immense. The balance of power my have been tipped to the side of good with the redemption of Caleb, but ht war is not over, as long as there humans upon this earth, the battle between good an devil will continue, just as the fight had scarred the Track dynasty, the impact of the war will forever change humanity. It seemed that evil had won and it was in that dark moment, a time of hopelessness and despair that a light cut through the chaos and discord and saved Caleb from his own discontent. Caleb was different, he was far more sadistic, he took pleasure in his revenge, his scheme was much more devious and cunning than that of Charles and even laughed with Cathy when he showed Aaron that their mother was evil. This shows that they are all humans, humans have flaws, humans are spontaneous, and humans are fallible and that nothing could stop mistakes from occurring, whether you are good or evil. Caleb’s actions after the incident was totally based on impulse, his attempt to destroy Aaron was very similar to Charles’ attempt to kill Adam.

Caleb endures many trials and tribulations as he is exposed to varying degrees of both good and evil. While when Charles attempted to murder Adam, he did not want to do what had done, he was only trying to claim what he believed was rightfully his through the only method he knew of. Something that he had worked so hard on and for so long was disregarded and scrapped by merely a few words. However, Adam’s response to Caleb’s present is a natural human reaction and Caleb in turn responded in kind by harming Aaron, and by hurting Aaron he would also be hurting Adam, even though he took action against Aaron he truly wanted to harm Adam for his ungratefulness towards him.