"Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ¡®Let¡¯s go out to the field.¡¯ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, ¡®Where is your brother Abel?¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t know,¡¯ he replied. ¡®Am I my brother¡¯s keeper?¡¯ The Lord said, ¡®What have you done? Listen! Your brother¡¯s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother¡¯s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.¡¯.. So Cain went out from the Lord¡¯s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.¡± Genesis 4:8-12, 16)

This biblical story about Cain and Abel is discussed in East of Eden, a 1952 novel written by John Steinbeck, an American Nobel laureate in literature. The novel features stories about three generations of two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks. The Hamilton family is based on the real-life of the family of Samuel Hamilton, Steinbeck¡¯s maternal grandfather. The author revolves around the theme of good and evil by figuratively using names beginning with Cs and As, reminding the reader of Cain and Abel. He considered this novel to be his masterpiece.

Stories in the book are set in the Salinas Valley in central California. The novel begins with a story about the warmhearted inventor and farmer Samuel Hamilton and his wife Liza, living in the valley. Then a wealthy stranger, Adam Trask, moves in. Adam Trask is a son of an army veteran Cyrus Trask. Adam has a stepbrother, Charles, who is one year younger than him.

Adam falls in love with Cathy Ames, a narcissistic and manipulative girl, and marries her, not knowing she is pregnant with Charles¡¯ child. Adam and Cathy move to Salinas Valley, where they buy a large farm and get a Chinese housekeeper named Lee. Cathy gives birth to fraternal twins. Both boys are neglected by their father after Cathy tries to kill him. Adam names his children Caleb, also known as Cal, and Aaron, who changes his name to Aron later. They grow up taught by Adam that their mother is dead. But their mother Cathy works at a whore house, changing her name to Kate.

Cal introduces Aron to Kate whom Aron has long believed to be dead. Aron is so shocked when he sees his mother working as a prostitute that he joins the army. He dies in the military and Cal feels that he is guilty of murdering him. But just before Adam dies, Cal asks for his forgiveness. Adam only mutters, ¡°Timshel.¡±

A film with the same title was released in 1955, based on the second half of the novel. It starred the famous Hollywood star James Dean. It was his first major screen role. Interestingly enough, of the three films in which James Dean played the lead, East of Eden was the only one to have been released while he was alive. A new film East of Eden, a modern retelling of the Cain and Abel story, will be released by Universal Pictures in 2011, showing people¡¯s constant interest in the theme and Steinbeck¡¯s ¡°magnum opus.¡±