Published in 1952, East of Eden was, according to Steinbeck, a "story of his country and the story of himself."
Steinbeck was brought up in and around Salinas, California, the second setting of the novel. His life experiences there are portrayed throughout this story. A second strong influence on the novel is his Christian idealism learned through study of the Bible. Other themes in the novel are listed below.
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Time: From the Civil War to World War I
Settings: Connecticut and Salinas Valley, California
Characters: Cyrus Trask, patriarch of the Trask family
in Connecticut
Alice Trask, Cyrus' second wife, step mother to Adam, mother of Charles
Adam Trask, the oldest son of Cyrus and father of Caleb and Aron.
Charles Trask, second son of Cyrus
Samuel Hamilton, originally from Ireland, patriarch of the Hamilton family in
California
Liza, Sam's wife, mother to nine children
Olive Hamilton, mother of John Steinbeck
Cathy Ames, a young woman who becomes Adam Trask's wife
Lee, Adam Trask's cook and servant in California
Caleb Trask, twin son of Adam Trask, brother to Aron
Aron Trask, second twin son of Adam Trask
Abra Bacon, friend of Cal and Aron Trask
Topics to Consider: Cain and Abel
Good and evil
The Hebrew concept of timshel
Salinas Valley history
A father's blessing on his child
People on the fringes of society
Turn of the century America
Librarian Talk . . . About Books!
Many books are available both online and in the library. So much has been written about this novel, books will be one of your best resources.
Apply online for a library card. Use your card to:
1) Place a Hold on a book and have it sent to the library closest to you, 2) Access journal and reference databases from home, 3) Access Online Book Database (NetLibrary).
- The catalog is online.
- Online books are available at NetLibrary. Use your library card to log in. Search Steinbeck as a subject, then search inside the books using your keywords.
Reference Books:
PN 41 .D5 Dictionary of Literary Biography - This set offers biographical information on authors. Vols. 7 and 9 contain information on John Steinbeck's life.
PN771. C59 Contemporary Literary Criticism - This multi-volume set contains excerpts and whole articles analyzing and offering critical insight into literature. Use the Title Index to find specific pages on East of Eden. This is a good place to begin focusing on a topic for a paper.
PN56.4 .H37 Characters in 20th Century Literature - A brief essay examines the main characters in East of Eden.
Circulating Books:
PS 3537 .T3234 Z5 Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters - A day by day account of the writing of East of Eden. This "journal casts a flood of light on the author's mind and on the nature of the creative process."
PS 3537 .T3234 Z8669 Steinbeck and the Environment - An interdisciplinary look at Steinbeck.
John Steinbeck - an e-book available through NetLibrary. The book examines several of Steinbeck's most notable books including East of Eden. Other e-books on Steinbeck and the early settlement of California are available.
To find articles in newspapers and journals, letters, reference books, illustrations, photographs and more, use your NHMCCD library card to login to the following databases. If you find an interesting article that is not full-text, please give the correct bibliographic information to our Reference Librarians and they will see that you get the article. They will need full bibliographic information - and your name and address. Send your phone number as well, so they can contact you if they need to. There is some overlap of articles in the following databases. However, we encourage you to use more than one. All are excellent sources for this topic. [Get a card]
Databases are electronic resources useful for finding journal articles which analyze literature. Some of the Kingwood College Library databases most useful for examining East of Eden and Steinbeck are listed below. Click on the link to go into the database from computers on campus, or use your library barcode to login from off-campus.
Academic Search Complete - This scholarly, multi-discipline, full-text database contains articles on East of Eden and John Steinbeck. Limit your searches to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals to find the appropriate articles.
Literature Resource Center - Full text articles from reference books and Twayne's Masterworks books. Journal articles, some full text and some excerpted. This database is our link into the MLA index of scholarly literary articles.
MLA - The most authoritative index to scholarly journals in the subject area of literature. This resource contains only a limited number of full-text articles, but is useful to find articles that may be full-text in other databases, in the library on microfiche, or available to you through the library's inter-library loan program. If you need help, please ask the reference librarian on duty. Use "Check LinkSource" to locate full text of articles in other databases.
NetLibrary - This database of full text online books is available for use from your computer off-campus. There are several books which discuss Steinbeck and East of Eden in this database.
Proquest Research Library - This multi subject index contains articles on East of Eden and Steinbeck. Limit searches to Scholarly journals including peer reviewed to find appropriate level articles.
Project MUSE - This full text database contains many scholarly journal articles in literature.
JSTOR Arts & Sciences - Search or browse the complete back issues for scholarly journals in literature, economics, history, social sciences, science and mathematics. The most current issue available is determined by publisher agreements and varies.
| Librarian Talk about the Internet!
The internet can be a wonderful source of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you do want to find reputable sites. Look at:
UNACCEPTABLE SOURCE SAMPLE http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh/bx/bx04b.html - This appears to be part of a book (the subject is not this novel but it is a good example) however there is nothing we can see that tells you title, author, dates, publisher or any of the other needed information. |
Some Internet sites can be helpful for research. Students should be aware that not all sites are academically suitable for the type of research colleges require. Look at the site and judge it for quality (is it well written?), validity (are facts and statements correct?), currency (is it up to date?), authority (who wrote or created the web page?), and general acceptability. If you are in doubt, check with your instructor. Some sites which may be helpful to your research are linked below.
The California novels East of Eden This site was created by Ed Stephan, Ph.D. Sociology at Western Washington University. Dr. Stephan is interested in the relationship of territory to society. This web page and the related pages were created after visiting California's Steinbeck country.
The National Steinbeck Center This web page about East of Eden is one of the pages linked to the National Steinbeck Center. The center is located in Salinas, California, the heart of "Steinbeck country."
Steinbeck Country A site created by the San Jose State Center for Steinbeck Studies, part of San Jose State University, which describes and shows pictures of many of the places Steinbeck uses as settings in his novels.
If you need help putting your paper together, these links will lead you to tutors and librarians who can offer assistance.
Citing Sources Using the Library MLA Style Guide | Kingwood College library guide. Examples of both paper and electronic citations.
Avoiding Plagiarism | Excellent information and guide on how to avoid plagiarism from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.
University of Texas Copyright Crash Course | This helpful guide on copyright is suggested by Kingwood College Teaching and Learning Center.
Learning Center | Check our hours for tutoring.
Kingwood College | Kingwood College Library | Write us | Page by Becky Bradley, 3-19-02, Revised 6/2007 B. Bradley.
