EDEN
[eed-n] or /'i'dn
- The place where Adam and Eve lived in the biblical account of the Creation, from which they were expelled for disobediently eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
- A place or state of great happiness; an unspoilt paradise
East of Eden, a family saga in which Steinbeck explores his belief that every generation, every human being, lives their life in a perpetual struggle between good and evil. Written from a Christian perspective Steinbeck uses his characters and multiple biblical references to dramatize the internal conflict of overcoming "inherited" evil. I could go into a full blown analysis of symbols, themes, and character devlopment, but that's not my goal here, that's what Sparknotes is for. My goal is to share with you an interesting afterthought I had regarding the title of the book and the meaning of the word Eden.
The title of the book is a phrase loaded with biblical meaning. The land east of the Garden of Eden is considered to be the land on which Adam and Eve settled upon after being exiled to the "outside world" for committing the orignal sin by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Although their punishment was living in a less perfect world, Adam and Eve were still allowed to have children and they gave birth to twin brothers Cain and Abel. Long story short, after killing his brother out of jealousy Cain gets exiled to the Land of Nod which is believed to be east of Eden as well. His lack of remorse forbids him from ever reaching the Land of God. So I wonder, is Cain further east from the Garden of Eden than his parents and brother ever were? If so, does further away mean less chances of going back to the Land of God? Well I don't know the answer to these questions and they're not so relevant to what I want to talk about, but I thought they were interesting.
Anyway, I got curious about this word Eden, which in the book is used not only when the characters revisit biblical stories, but also when they refer to a place full of bliss. One of the scenes that got me into thinking about what we consider paradise and Eden like was when Adam Trask (one of the main characters) is talking with his wife about building a garden on the new land he bought. Adam makes his wife Cathy move out with him to the Salinas Valley and buys a huge farm. He tells her they're going to be extremely happy there and that he would build a garden for her and it would be their Eden. Little did he know that what he thought would be perfect was the last thing she wanted. While I was reading the book I didn't give this scene as much thought. I dismissed it as a clue that would eventually lead to a breakdown between Adam and Cathy or an abandonment story. However, the other morning I woke up before sunrise and the story came back to mind.
In Toronto, our apartment faces South East, and East of our apartment is the city, the skyline, and the icnoic CN tower. So, when the sun rises, it slowly lightens up the sky behind the city and the skyline, still a dark brown/black color, glows. It's a quite beautiful site. If you catch it at the right time it's almost breath taking. Anyway, so I woke up one morning and was watching the sun rise and thought, this is beautiful, it is in fact a blissful site, some might call it paradisical. That's when the scene with Adam and Cathy came to my mind and I thought, just like Adam thought the garden would be their Eden, some people probably think their city is Eden. Yet, just like Cathy, others might hate it. It was then that I realized how important it is to acknowledge that the definition of Eden as a "state of great happiness or a blissful unspoilt place" is subjective and leaves room for so much interpretation. It is that same freedom of interpretation that makes each of us unique and we must recognize that where there is room for opinions there are no definitive rules.
That morning watching the sunrise, I found myself in a state of great happiness. I was willing to call our place in Toronto our Eden and as I thought of this I wondered, is this place better than the beaches at Bahamas or Capri? Or the view from my parents apartment? What about walking down the streets of Buenos Aires? Attending mass at the Vatican? Or the sunset in California? Needless to say, I got all confused and couldn't decide whether Toronto could be called Eden. What I did decide is that to me, Eden is not about a specific, geographic location. I like the definition "state of great happiness". To me Eden can be any moment in time, any place on this world, as long as that feeling of blissful happiness that I can't contain is there. That morning as I figured out what I thought about Eden and watched the sun rise I smiled to myself and thought this moment feels like I'm at Eden, everything is perfect, and that's good enough for me.
PS. The photo above was taken in California 30 min. away from the Salinas Valley where the story takes place!
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