Book Club Questions East Of Eden

Sibling rivalry is a crushing reoccurrence in east of eden.

Book club questions east of eden. Steinbeck has a character refer to americans as a breed and near the end of the book lee says to a conflicted cal that we are all descended from the restless the nervous the criminals the arguers and brawlers but also the brave and independent and generous. Why do you think america and its history are so prevalent in this book through ideas like the migration west the indian campaigns chinese american immigration world war i etc. How does steinbeck use religious symbolism differently in these novels.

What is the significance of the detailed descriptions of flowers land and historic names in the salinas valley at the beginning of east of eden. The narrator who is the author john steinbeck gives a detailed description of the landscape and the history of names because he wants to give readers an idea of what the salinas valley was like at the time his grandparents samuel and liza. You won t run out of things to discuss that s for sure.

These questions can help your students work through the themes and plot of east of eden. Steinbeck is a descriptive writer that can develop characters to a t. Fab book club recommendations.

East of eden explores the fundamental conflict of good and evil in human life and essentially retells the story of cain and abel twice once with adam and charles and once with aron and cal. The latter is the more direct retelling as cal s revelation of the truth about their mother to aron indirectly causes aron s death. First adam and his brother charles then adam s sons cal and aron act out a drama of jealousy and competition that seems fated.

East of eden is a novel by john steinbeck and is a work filled with metaphor and biblical allusion. How does the judeo christian symbolism in east of eden compare to the judeo christian symbolism in the grapes of wrath. John steinbeck east of eden is actually far too big to tackle in a short time at an evening book club meeting.

John steinbeck east of eden. There is so much more to it than commented on here but it is such a good choice. It s rare to find a descriptive writer that can still make a book a real turn pager.