Of hazel eyes and button noses
Tulip Chowdhury revisits an old tale
East of Eden
John Steinbeck
Pan Books Ltd.
EAST of Eden is described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel. It is the story of two American families as they settle down in the Salinas Valley, North California. This is the story of the Trasks and the Hamiltons and their interwoven life. The story holds a rich assortment of diverse characters. As one reads the story the characters seem to open up with new faces in every conceding chapter. The reader is bound to be amazed at how different people can be; how docile or cruel, how easy going or a hard a nut, how loving and yet wise. Throughout the story the relationships among the amazing characters are perfectly articulated.
Samuel Hamilton came from Ireland with his wife and settled down in Salinas Valley. He came there, full blown and hearty, full of inventions and energy. He farmed his land and was also a blacksmith. People came to hear his talk about poetry and philosophy that were going on outside the Salinas Valley. He had nine children, all healthy and rosy. And he delivered them with his own hands. In fact he was so gentle with the deliveries that people from all around often preferred to call him for delivering their babies rather than go to the doctor. Yet this man also was the best friend to all his neighbors in times of need.
Liza Hamilton, Samuel's wife, her apple cheeks flaming moved like a caged leopard in her home. After presenting her beloved husband with nine children she was a firm believer in a woman's strength and vitality where a family was concerned. She was up on her feet throughout the day and the darkness of the night found her tired body on the bed, blissfully happy to have lived another good day from God.
Cathy Ames, Adam Trask's wife was her husband's prized possession. Adam found her on his doorstep, beaten and bruised. He took her in and never asked her where she had come from. Pretty, tiny and delicate Cathy was not like other women. Her eyes were hazel, widely set and the nose was a button nose, set like a doll's. The mouth was curved and sweet. Yet there was something unfathomable about her. You wanted to know her, felt little close to her and yet something seem to set a warning bell. The eyes of Cathy had no message, no communication of any kind. There was nothing recognizable behind them. They were not human eyes; as if a hidden animal lurched behind them. One long look at the eyes, the idle hands lying on the lap, the curved fingers; her childlike shoulders, her delicate frame; and you would feel as if a goose was walking over your grave. Yet you would be drawn to her as man is drawn to a sea despite knowing that there are unknown dangers hidden in its depth. She was a soul that did not hesitate to burn her parents for the simple reason that they had stood on her way when she wanted leave her home.
Reflecting on Cathy, Steinbeck writes,
"I believe there are monsters born in the world to humble parents. And just as physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or malformed eggs can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?"
Cyrus Trask, Adam's father was a war veteran. He had been actively engaged only for a few months. He lost one leg and returned home. Then he taught himself about warfare so thoroughly that he began to believe that he had been there for the whole of World War-I. He began to write to the secretary of war and gradually got himself a top position in the government. After his death Charles and Adam inherited lump some money from their father but were never at peace with the money for doubts over their father's honesty. Charles stayed back on the farm in Connecticut and it was Adam who moved to Salinas Valley with Cathy.
Cathy hated Adam with the intensity of an animal. And Adam loved her blindly. When Cathy became pregnant against her wishes she just let the days go until she could move again. Repeatedly she told Adam that she would go away and yet Adam thought it was all her foolish self speaking out. After Cathy had two twin boys she shot Adam on the shoulder and fled. The secret of her where about was known only to Horace, the sheriff and Samuel Hamilton. They promised each other that this secret would not go beyond them for it could ruin the lives of the new born twins. How could they let the twins know that there mother was working in a brothel and had five to six regular customers? Cathy, the adulteress was vicious enough to poison Fay, the owner of the brothel after the old woman called Cathy her daughter.
Charles Trask dies leaving fifty-thousand cash money for Cathy. It was like new window opening for Adam. He wonders if this is the answer to his son Caleb looking so much like Charles. However he still loves Cathy and wants to give her the inheritance hoping that she might become a bit human, might give up the brothel and accept her children. He reasons on the thoughts,
"Saints spring from soil. There is no springboard to philanthropy like a bad conscience." He continues to hope that Cathy will mend her ways.
The lives of the Trasks, Hamiltons, Cathy and Fay in Salinas Valley weave in to an intricate, mind engrossing tapestry. It is a poignant saga of Adam's search for love and his struggles to come to terms with the twisted turns of fate. Cathy, to whom love and kindness never found meanings is surprised to find an emptiness inside her when her own son comes to see her in the brothel. She is surprised that she is even scared of h
The characters in this story are palpably real. Mind blowing windows seem to open one after another as the reader glimpses into the thoughts and actions of the characters. The reader gets to wonder how a writer can build up the story with so many elaborate details. The story is a finely organized and satisfying assemblage of the things that matter ; among them family life, childhood, debt and obligations, loyalty, imagination, faith, hope, desire, innocence and guilt. East of Eden is a complete story that spans the history of USA from the Civil War to World War-I. The story holds glittering vignettes of a Californian small town life to a vivid picture of a growing nation. In East of Eden the author holds time and space with his breathtaking account of the intractability of human nature and his plots unfold with surprising and thought provoking life axioms. John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
Tulip Chowdhury writes poetry and fiction and is a teacher.
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