Connections

I have finished the first part of East of Eden. So the characters are all introduced. There was a brief introduction of the Irish American family the Hamiltons in California. Yet the first part mainly focuses on the Trask brothers in Connecticut. A new character is introduced by the name of Cathy Ames. The narrator describes her as "a monster". Compares her personality to birth defects. Explaining that she was born without a heart. This flaw is concealed by her immense charm and uses sex as a power above all. She is truly evil, she killed her parents in a house fire and fled to become a prostitute. The murder is later discovered by Mr. Edwards who runs the prostitute ring. After being charmed by this Lilith (biblical reference) he comes to consciousness about her character and attempts to kill her. Yet Kathy lives and drags her broken body to the Trask door, charms the eldest brother. The first part ends with the hasty marriage.
Choosing East of Eden has been the best decision. I love the Steinbeck's character introductions. For every character he introduces into the plot, he gives a good 1-2 chapters on their life story. That is probably why the book is so thick and will be near to impossible to finish by next Friday. My favorite character introduction is of Cathy. She is such an evil character but Steinbeck doesn't describe her as a "a selfish tramp" as most authors would at that time. She is portrayed as cunning and manipulative with a shell of innocence to cover her heartless soul. Steinbeck introduces the chapter about Cathy with "I believe there are ,monsters born in the world to human parents." The next paragraph continues to "And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?". There is more depth to this female character than other books around that time. I predict that Cathy will turn the plot around.

The Trasks and the Hamiltons

East of Eden is such a good book so far. Since it is Steinbeck there is a lot of description. I started reading it in the beginning of health class and with he amount of description it was hard to get into it with all the distractions around me. When I went home I curled up on a chair on the back porch and immersed myself into it.
After the opening (the intense imagery of California flowers)the Hamiltons were introduced. The mother and father are Irish immigrants raising a large family on a California ranch. The land is not that fertile due the the dry climate.
The next chapter shifts the the Trask family. The father is a veteran of the Civil War with a missing leg. He raises his two children in a militaristic way. The one brother Adam is the more quiet type; not quite meant to fight. His brother Charles on the other hand is more aggressive. There is the allusion of Cain and Abel with the relationship between the brothers. The father prefers Adam above Charles, thus leading to jealousy and aggression.

Oh Decisions

With the end of the AP exams there comes a time where a High School student can take a few minutes to sit down, take a breather and read. Whenever there is the decision to start a new book there are the constant thoughts and fears: "Will I like it?" "Will I give up?" "Is it so unbearably dull that I would rather reread the AP U.S. History Textbook?"
I have picked a grand total of three books and great classics and American literature or listed in sample open essays (most of them).
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The synopsis in the cover flap of the novel opens up to a description of the Salinas Valley in California and the intertwining destinies of two families: the Trasks and the Hamiltons. The synopsis provides the biblical illusion of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able and applies it to this family. Which is quite intriguing as well as the positive feed back. It's a classic it should be on the list of books to read before you die.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier sounded interesting as well. It has a Civil War setting and is much shorter than Gone With the Wind (which I later plan to read). It provides has examples of the never ending love for a man for this woman back home. With adventures in between describing his journey back. I've seen the movie with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law which was quite good. The whole reason why this book is even on this list is because of that movie. Books are often better than movies; why not read it?
The next book choice is quite a surprise and completely unexpected so brace yourself: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. A captivating children's book which has entranced minds since 1969; including my own. I have read this book more than any other book. The colors simply amaze me and the wording is so simplistic but gets the point straight across. An aspect well forgotten among the older population. There are more meanings behind this book as one thinks deeper. It is so simplistic that it leaves room for the imagination and lets the reader take control. One may infer that The Very Hungry Caterpillar was not just hungry, maybe emotional hunger; a hunger to fill the empty gap in his heart from his parents abandonment when he was such a small egg. Such trauma would easily cause anyone the need to eat three times their body weight.
From this much deliberation I feel that East of Eden has the most interest currently, it may be long but worth it. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a close call though. Time to sit back and enjoy the finest of American literature.