Throughout history we have classified people into two categories, good an evil, but it is all too obvious that this method of classification is flawed, for there are recesses of the human spirit that no empirical method could quantify and no mind could comprehend. In East of Eden, John Steinbeck uses an allegory of the story of Cain and Abel to analyze the influences of good and evil upon humanity and their eternal battle for dominance.
             The characters of the story are designed and set up in a very interesting fashion. They are evenly split between good and evil with the power of both sides exact balanced. Charles and Adam are nearly exact opposites, with Charles being the evil one and Adam being the good one, but both are naive and impulsive. While both are pure of force, neither of them has the ability to change for they view the world in a very simplistic manner, either good or evil. Cathy and Lee are also exact opposites, with Cathy being evil and Lee being good, but they are able to see the world for what it truly is and they see themselves for what they are, thus possessing the ability to change. While all the characters of the novel are archetypes of either good or evil, the addition of Caleb tips the balance of power between the two forces, for he is the culmination of both good and evil and the focal point of the story. Caleb is analogous of Cain and a direct interpretation of the Bible shows that he is a force of evil, but Steinbeck further examines the Bible and comes to conclude that Cain was a man, a creature with the ability to choose, an individual controlled by no one but himself and that is why both good and evil strive for control of him.
             Caleb endures many trials and tribulations as he is exposed to varying degrees of both good and evil. Although Caleb has always been weighed down upon by his mother's evil, he is never harmed by it, and ironically, he is later strengthened by his confrontation with Cathy in...