CYCLES

Cycles

            A cycle is any complete series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated. With that clarified there were multiple cycles in this novel East of Eden. Most of the cycles in this novel are never ending and become passed down through generations. Sometimes these cycles cross one another or become an off spring for other cycles. There’s a difference in these cycles though. The cycles in this novel start new beginnings but end the same.  What I mean is each character can be in a cycle and they will start a new life or a new adventure then by the end of their new ways they wound up in the same place they tried to escape, and it is kind of shocking but I can always see it coming. 

            One main cycle is the cycle of abandonment. The main characters this cycle effects are Charles and Tom. Ever since Charles was born he lived on that farm his mother left him (passed away), father left him (went back to the military), and his brother left him (all over the place). Charles was left alone to his farm where he put in all his hard work and soul into. Even after Charles father died and he and Adam became rich Charles still decided to stay and do nothing but keep working on his farm which he would never leave. Tom was abandoned by all of his siblings. They all grew up with big futures and goals that they had fulfilled, while poor old Tom was left with nothing but false ideas that would be nothing but a waste of time and money. Every time he would start a new beginning or new project somehow it failed and he came back to home. This cycle has a negative effect because it never allowed Charles and Tom to prosper and grow. Never allowed them to get away from home and move on with the rest of their lives like everyone else in their families.

            Abandonment plays a big part into Tom and Charles life because it forced them into another cycle. That would be the cycle of returning. In this cycle of returning the characters are like lost birds that never learned to fly. I say this because they were born into the world like a bird, they were given all the necessary tools like a bird, but, they were never nurtured properly and shown the love and care they needed to learn how to fly and prosper on their own so all of their projects/adventures failed and they returned back to home. They had everything they needed to go out into the world and become great things but they never did. Being abandoned allowed them to never abandon anything because they know how it feels. These two cycles are very important to the novel. They are important because they helped Tom and Charles creates paths for new beginnings but showed how they always came up with the same ending.

Part 3 Questions

2. Samuel, Adam, Cal, Dessie, and Tom all lie to protect the feelings of others in part 3. Is their deception justifiable kindness, or is it ultimately a breach of trust? Compare that to actions of Lee’s father.  Note also Lee gives to Adam to tell the truth to his boys about Cathy.

All of their lies were justifiable kindness. Although it is never good to lie and lying usually creates a big problem with the truth comes out, they all had to do what must have been done at the time. The boys weren’t ready to hear the truth and that was that. Now Lee’s father did the same thing with Lee and his mother see he felt that Lee’s mother was just not fit and he needed to at all cost keep Lee away from her. Now I’m not saying that was neither right nor fair but a parent does what they feel is best for their kid. Now of course later on the truth comes out to Lee about his mother and because of that Lee was able to give the advice to Adam about being honest with his kids, but Adam just couldn’t he had to keep the lie alive he couldn’t tell them the truth about Cathy because he felt it would be too much pain for them to bare not knowing that in the end it’s up to the child to decide who he/she wants in their life, that one parent cannot dictate that and that’s where both Lee’s father and Adam messed up.  “Where do you think our mother is?  She’s dead. No, she isn’t. She is too. She ran away, I heard some men talking. They were liars . . . Cal said quietly pretty soon I’ll run away and find her. I’ll bring her back,” (EOE PG 337-338). This clearly shows that a parent cannot dictate a child’s choice to meet their other parent, because in the end some kids have to see the horror for themselves.

7. What do you suppose Charles motives were in equally dividing his inheritance between Adam and Cathy?

Charles was something else.  He was one of the children in this book who was neglected by the man he loved the most, so a lot of things he has done in this book has been very spiteful and just shocking. It’s kind of been a pattern for Charles to do things that are always just questionable. Like why does Charles not spend a dime of his money? Like why he never gets a wife? Why does Charles always have to do mean things to Adam? Why did Charles have to sleep with Cathy? Why does Charles always takes his anger out on Adam? A lot of these questions still circle around me and the main thing is jealousy or to stir up trouble so he can get some attention and feel noticed. Charles was never really brought up nor important until he did something to deceive Adam.  So I say Charles has the same motive he always does or maybe he has found a new one. Maybe Charles heard about the twins remembered what he had done and felt like they were his kids and that’s why he divided it evenly instead of giving all the money to Adam.  In my eyes Charles had the motive of getting his last two seconds of attention even in the afterlife, because I’m sure he knows Adam found out that he gave the other half to Cathy which raises the question why and keeping him forever relevant because no one knows the true answer.

10. Why does Abra tease the boys? Does she seem admirable?

                Abra is something New to the boys they don’t really play with people let alone a female. Abra kind of got a feel of that when she first met them and she was a bright young girl so I guess she saw it as a why not.  She teased the boys because she knew they weren’t use to having friends let alone conversation with people so she knew she would become the boss. “the boys exchanged uneasy glances. It was their first experience with the inexorable logic of women, which is overwhelming even, or perhaps especially, when it is wrong. This is new to them, exciting and frightening. . . She saw opposition, struggle, and disappear. Abra had taken control. She was the boss.” (EOE pg 345). This clearly shows that she teased the boys because she is simply a girl we know things we do things and we like to be in control. Yes, she seems very admirable. She seems like a smart bright girl who has intrest in the twins. She also seems like a child with a lot of information on a lot of things. So yeeh she’s admirable.