John Steinbeck’s Beacon in Darkness: East of Eden as a Morals Paradigm for Sons

Like Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, Steinbeck’s East of Eden centers around choices and responsibility, and he bases his story on a most memorable human choice: the biblical story of Cain and his deliberate choice to murder his brother, Abel. Robert DeMott states that “Steinbeck used Genesis (4:1–16) for the action, characterization, and title of his novel.” At its core and always in its backdrop, then, Steinbeck’s Cain-and-Abel story in East of Eden sets forth a paradigm of right choice and right behavior for his two young sons. In truth, Steinbeck states clearly his intention to elucidate this biblical passage with greater scrutiny than it had ever undergone before, exploring its fuller meaning: “Certainly I do not think that the Cain-Abel story has ever been subjected to such scrutiny. Nor has any story been so fruitful of meaning.”