Character Clues

Character Analysis

Names

Almost every character name in this novel is some sort of biblical pun. What's more, the characters themselves know it. Really, what Adam hasn't thought about his famous(ly naïve) namesake? Samuel is another name with a strong biblical resonance: the biblical Samuel was a prophet, and Samuel Hamilton is almost always saying weird foreboding things about the future (take a look at his write-up in the "Characters" section to see what we mean).

Look out for those initials too. You might not find any Cains or Abels, but you will find Charles and Adam, as well as Cal and Aron. Not very subtle, Steinbeck. But that's kind of the point: the biblical implications are just too strong to ignore.

Take a gander at Chapter 22 to hear the characters themselves discussing the significance of names. Note how Adam, Lee, and Samuel are intent on avoiding the names Cain and Abel, yet settle for names that are weirdly similar. Go figure.

Sex and Love

In East of Eden, one of the main ways we learn about characters is through their sex lives. Steinbeck does a pretty good job of separating the virtuous folk from the—um—not so virtuous. First, take a look at what the narrator says at the beginning of the novel about the Hamiltons's family medicine book:

The Hamiltons must have been either lucky or moral for the sections on gonorrhea and syphilis were never opened. (2.1.12)

Okay, so the Hamiltons never got any sexually transmitted diseases, which seems to suggest that none of them have really slept around (though the narrator says that that might be due to sheer luck). On the other hand, one of the first things we learn about Cyrus Trask is that

he contracted a particularly virulent dose of the clap from a Negro girl who whistled at him from under a pile of lumber and charged him ten cents […] When he got home to Connecticut there remained only enough of it for his wife. (3.1.2)

So while the Hamiltons keep it in their pants and seem to be more family-oriented, Cyrus Trask is going around with ten-cent prostitutes and then giving STDs to his wife (the clap, by the way, is gonorrhea). See the contrast? Cyrus is clearly not a very admirable character.

Now let's talk about Cathy. From the very beginning sex is a huge part of her character. All of her childhood anecdotes involve sex, whether it's with neighborhood boys, her Latin teacher, or Mr. Edwards the whoremaster. But it's not just that Cathy likes sex, which wouldn't by itself make her a bad character; it's that she uses sex to manipulate, control, and destroy people. When, for instance, Cathy sleeps with Charles the night she marries Adam, we know that she is pretty cold and cruel.

We love talking about sex in East of Eden, so if you want to read more, see our "Steaminess Rating" section, analysis of Cathy/Kate in the "Characters" section, and discussion of sex over in "Themes."

Actions

We don't mean the little actions—we're talking major game-changing actions. Cal showing Aron their mother? Huge deal: it shows us just how far Cal's jealousy extends and how he chooses to deal with it with cruelty. Cathy shooting Adam? It shows us that Cathy doesn't care at all about Adam and just wants him out of the way. Cyrus stealing all of his money from the G.A.R.? He is clearly shady and far from the upstanding guy he pretends to be. This novel is full of characters doing jaw-dropping things that you don't exactly need a magnifying glass to see, and they are there for a reason.

Appearances

With so much page-space dedicated to Aron's beautiful hair, how could appearances not matter? The breakdown is pretty simple: Cal/Cain = dark and suspicious, Aron/Abel = blond and open. So first off, it's worth mentioning that our two Cain characters, Charles and Cal, are probably actually father and son, because Cathy and Charles got it on that one time, and Cal bears an unsettling resemblance to his "uncle." It's too bad Maury didn't exist at the turn of the century.

Here is a description of Cal:

Cal was growing up dark-skinned, dark-haired. He was quick and sure and secret. (36.1.13)

Cal's darkness seems to conceal something, and people don't like things that they can't see or understand. In fact, Steinbeck tells us that people generally fear Cal for that very reason. But Aron, on the other hand, is a wide-open, easy-to-read, size twenty-four-font book with pictures:

Aron drew love from every side. He seemed shy and delicate. His pink-and-white skin, golden hair, and wide-set blue eyes caught attention. (36.1.15)

It seems the people of Salinas prefer blonds. Aron's appearance makes him seem like all of the things that are familiar and safe. He is like a helpless, innocent child, whereas Cal's darkness gives him "a precocious maturity" (36.1.13) that makes him seem like an adult. And generally speaking, people prefer children to adults, because children aren't threatening.

Appearances matter so much in this novel that Cal and Aron are judged differently for doing the exact same things:

And what was charming in the blond ingenuousness of Aron became suspicious and unpleasant in the dark-faced, slit-eyed Cal. (38.1.1)

Unfair? Yes, totally.