East of Eden Essay: Steinbeck vs. Christ :: East Eden Essays

East of Eden Steinbeck vs. Christ   In the novel, East of Eden, jakes Steinbeck proposes the idea that man has much more control over his receive destiny than many chose to believe-a conclusion reached from Steinbecks own interpretation of the story of Cain and fitting wherein God neither instructs Cain to attain the sin which is crouching at his door, nor predicts that Cain testament master it, but rather gives Cain the ability to choose. Taking the text protrude of place setting, Steinbeck uses it to beget the message that a mans destiny is up to himself and that the ability to choose to do what is right and wrong is as much a curse as it is a blessing. Steinbecks interpretation is incorrect. By taking the clause atomic number 19 mayest out of its context, Steinbeck twists the truth of free testament and uses it to convey his own message that a man, through his own free will, shtup shape and define his destiny. By reading the text in context-both the story of Cain a nd Able and the story of Christ, which is the recognised Christian message of the Bible as a whole-the message that cubic yard mayest conveys is quite different in both meaning and gravity.   The very context of the phrase tells its immediate meaning If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door it desires to have you, but thou mayest master it. In context, the phrase thou mayest is more than the blank check that Steinbeck makes it out to be rather, it is a inform and an instruction. God gives Cain the warning that if he chooses not to do rightly, sin will conquer him and at the same time, He offers hope and tells Cain he can and, in context, should choose to master that sin.   The Biblical context of the story goes further, applying itself to keep in general. As the whole of the Bible unfolds, the concept of free will is realized on a far greater magnitude than Steinbeck applies it. al hotshot humani ty is subject to the harassment of a sinful nature and a fallen world. There is no one righteous, not even one there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. Therefore, instead of the unaffected freedom to choose his