East Of Eden: the 1955 movie with James Dean, based on the 1952 novel by John Steinbeck: text to a friend
[SPOILER ALERT: I DISCUSS THE PLOT IN DETAIL HERE. I highly recommend watching the movie if you never have.]
I finished watching East of Eden. I was very moved by it, as I had always been when I watched it in the past.
The film and the book are saturated with religious themes and parallels, as is Grapes Of Wrath. Steinbeck was a lifelong Episcopalian and clearly there is a theme of trying to reconcile modern leftism with traditional religion throughout much of his works, which is also a theme in modern history.
It’s quite clear that the theme of East of Eden is forgiveness.
Steinbeck clearly tries in his novels to tell modern stories as vehicles for reworking biblical themes in a more modern context, including left leaning themes. But it’s clear that East Of Eden is a deeply religious, emotional, and psychological work. There are backdrop elements to the plot that touch on political issues, but they are only the framework for a deeply emotional story that presents a modern version of the doctrine of forgiveness, in this case, Adam, the father, actually forgiving Cain (Cal, James Dean’s character, for essentially murdering Abel (Aron, Cal’s brother who is “good” like Adam but like Adam, does not actually know how to love). On his deathbed, Adam basically has an epiphany about what he has to do to finally show love and acceptance of Cal. Abra, Aron’s fiancé who leaves him for Cal, helps Adam to come to the realization of what he must do before he dies. It’s a very religiously themed moment and it reminds me of Tom Joad’s epiphany about the “world soul,” which is a kind of modern leftist reworking of Christian themes. [Also a very awkward reworking, since I definitely don’t think Christianity would agree with Tom Joad’s view that “…maybe it’s like Casey says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, just a little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody.” Although one can sympathize with this, it’s not Christianity because Christianity requires an individual soul.]
Clearly in many ways left leaning politics is an attempt to have religion without God and without religion. In my view, that’s understandable and OK, but there is something that gets missed because these profound themes of forgiveness, for example, are even deeper than any political theme. These religious or quasi-religious themes are deeply emotional and deeply psychological.
And then there is the story of Cathy, Adam’s wife and mother of Cal and Aron. She is described as a wild and lively and rebellious individual, just like Cal; with Aron being just like Adam. She can’t stand living on the ranch with Adam and tells him she has to leave. Adam prevents her from leaving so she shoots him in the shoulder and leaves. Adam tells his sons that Cathy died, when in reality, unbeknownst to Adam, Cathy moved from Salinas to Monterey and became the owner and Madame of a highly successful whorehouse in Monterey. She changes her name to Kate and changes her last name as well. Adam doesn’t realize that she is living on the other side of the coastal mountain range in Monterey; his understanding is that she “went East” (like Cain does in the Bible). Cal discovers that she is alive and that she is a madame and convinces her to give him $5000 to invest in soybean futures to save his father financially and try to earn his love.
Aron sees that Abra is falling in love with Cal and forbids Cal and Abra to have anything to do with each other, behaving in an extremely controlling way just like Adam did with Cathy. Out of revenge for that and for Adam preferring Aron and everyone thinking of Aron as being “good” and Cal as being “evil,” Cal brings Aron to meet Kate and essentially Aron go insane and joins the army to fight the Germans even though he is a pacifist like his father, Adam. Kate had told Cal that she and Cal were just like each other, people who refuse to be controlled by others, rebels.It turns out that she actually is not as cruel as Cal can be.
At the end of the movie we can see that Cal and Abra will eventually marry. Cal, like Cain, will be the only one of these two sons of Adam who winds up having children. In the novel, Aron dies in the war and in the Bible, of course Cain kills Abel more directly.
In the movie, Adam is really not such a bad guy at all, in spite of Cal’s rage at him. Cal is the ultimate rebellious “misunderstood” teen, and in that sense the movie resonates with the 1950s and is a preview of the 1960s. But he’s just a little bit tone deaf when it comes to how to handle Cal. Cal is the typical 1950s rebel (the movie was released in 1955, the novel was published in 1952). He is so anti-authoritarian that Adam, who is actually a much more liberal and permissive version of authoritarianism, just cannot figure out how to handle Cal’s rebellion, similar to how he didn’t know how to “handle” his wife. He used his vision of morality to try to castigate and control both of them, and it backfired. Finally Abra teaches him the way to resolve everything: a very profound Christian forgiveness and acceptance, in effect an unconditional love. The result is repentance for both Cal and Adam, a sort of conversion experience for both on Adam’s deathbed.
I wrote that the theme of the story is forgiveness. I should’ve added that the companion theme is repentance. In the end, Cal repents and becomes good essentially because Abra has found a way to bring Cal and Adam together and heal their relationship, essentially saving both of their souls.
In the film, Adam is actually not cruel or sadistic like Cal can be. That’s one of the reasons why Adam doesn’t know what to do with him. But he makes the immense error of visibly favoring Aron and constantly comparing the two.
You can see that Steinbeck tries to build bridges between very overt and sometimes more subtle religious themes in Grapes Of Wrath and East Of Eden.
The political themes in East Of Eden are peripheral compared with these quasi-religious/psychological and emotional themes.
To me, Adam is at least partly a representation of God, but in Steinbeck‘s version of Cain and Abel, God forgives Cain. Cain is essentially forgiven for psychoanalytic reasons: he was angry and troubled because he didn’t feel loved and understood. Adam (God, the father) finally finds a way to heal (and forgive) Cain. Of course, there are also parallels with the evolution of Christianity from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
I finished watching East of Eden. I was very moved by it, as I had always been when I watched it in the past.
The film and the book are saturated with religious themes and parallels, as is Grapes Of Wrath. Steinbeck was a lifelong Episcopalian and clearly there is a theme of trying to reconcile modern leftism with traditional religion throughout much of his works, which is also a theme in modern history.
It’s quite clear that the theme of East of Eden is forgiveness.
Steinbeck clearly tries in his novels to tell modern stories as vehicles for reworking biblical themes in a more modern context, including left leaning themes. But it’s clear that East Of Eden is a deeply religious, emotional, and psychological work. There are backdrop elements to the plot that touch on political issues, but they are only the framework for a deeply emotional story that presents a modern version of the doctrine of forgiveness, in this case, Adam, the father, actually forgiving Cain (Cal, James Dean’s character, for essentially murdering Abel (Aron, Cal’s brother who is “good” like Adam but like Adam, does not actually know how to love). On his deathbed, Adam basically has an epiphany about what he has to do to finally show love and acceptance of Cal. Abra, Aron’s fiancé who leaves him for Cal, helps Adam to come to the realization of what he must do before he dies. It’s a very religiously themed moment and it reminds me of Tom Joad’s epiphany about the “world soul,” which is a kind of modern leftist reworking of Christian themes. [Also a very awkward reworking, since I definitely don’t think Christianity would agree with Tom Joad’s view that “…maybe it’s like Casey says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, just a little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody.” Although one can sympathize with this, it’s not Christianity because Christianity requires an individual soul.]
Clearly in many ways left leaning politics is an attempt to have religion without God and without religion. In my view, that’s understandable and OK, but there is something that gets missed because these profound themes of forgiveness, for example, are even deeper than any political theme. These religious or quasi-religious themes are deeply emotional and deeply psychological.
And then there is the story of Cathy, Adam’s wife and mother of Cal and Aron. She is described as a wild and lively and rebellious individual, just like Cal; with Aron being just like Adam. She can’t stand living on the ranch with Adam and tells him she has to leave. Adam prevents her from leaving so she shoots him in the shoulder and leaves. Adam tells his sons that Cathy died, when in reality, unbeknownst to Adam, Cathy moved from Salinas to Monterey and became the owner and Madame of a highly successful whorehouse in Monterey. She changes her name to Kate and changes her last name as well. Adam doesn’t realize that she is living on the other side of the coastal mountain range in Monterey; his understanding is that she “went East” (like Cain does in the Bible). Cal discovers that she is alive and that she is a madame and convinces her to give him $5000 to invest in soybean futures to save his father financially and try to earn his love.
Aron sees that Abra is falling in love with Cal and forbids Cal and Abra to have anything to do with each other, behaving in an extremely controlling way just like Adam did with Cathy. Out of revenge for that and for Adam preferring Aron and everyone thinking of Aron as being “good” and Cal as being “evil,” Cal brings Aron to meet Kate and essentially Aron go insane and joins the army to fight the Germans even though he is a pacifist like his father, Adam. Kate had told Cal that she and Cal were just like each other, people who refuse to be controlled by others, rebels.It turns out that she actually is not as cruel as Cal can be.
At the end of the movie we can see that Cal and Abra will eventually marry. Cal, like Cain, will be the only one of these two sons of Adam who winds up having children. In the novel, Aron dies in the war and in the Bible, of course Cain kills Abel more directly.
In the movie, Adam is really not such a bad guy at all, in spite of Cal’s rage at him. Cal is the ultimate rebellious “misunderstood” teen, and in that sense the movie resonates with the 1950s and is a preview of the 1960s. But he’s just a little bit tone deaf when it comes to how to handle Cal. Cal is the typical 1950s rebel (the movie was released in 1955, the novel was published in 1952). He is so anti-authoritarian that Adam, who is actually a much more liberal and permissive version of authoritarianism, just cannot figure out how to handle Cal’s rebellion, similar to how he didn’t know how to “handle” his wife. He used his vision of morality to try to castigate and control both of them, and it backfired. Finally Abra teaches him the way to resolve everything: a very profound Christian forgiveness and acceptance, in effect an unconditional love. The result is repentance for both Cal and Adam, a sort of conversion experience for both on Adam’s deathbed.
I wrote that the theme of the story is forgiveness. I should’ve added that the companion theme is repentance. In the end, Cal repents and becomes good essentially because Abra has found a way to bring Cal and Adam together and heal their relationship, essentially saving both of their souls.
In the film, Adam is actually not cruel or sadistic like Cal can be. That’s one of the reasons why Adam doesn’t know what to do with him. But he makes the immense error of visibly favoring Aron and constantly comparing the two.
You can see that Steinbeck tries to build bridges between very overt and sometimes more subtle religious themes in Grapes Of Wrath and East Of Eden.
The political themes in East Of Eden are peripheral compared with these quasi-religious/psychological and emotional themes.
To me, Adam is at least partly a representation of God, but in Steinbeck‘s version of Cain and Abel, God forgives Cain. Cain is essentially forgiven for psychoanalytic reasons: he was angry and troubled because he didn’t feel loved and understood. Adam (God, the father) finally finds a way to heal (and forgive) Cain. Of course, there are also parallels with the evolution of Christianity from the Old Testament to the New Testament.