Edenic Ironies: Steinbeck’s Conflicted Vision

Like his fellow mid-twentieth century Nobel Prize winners, Steinbeck made repeated use of certain symbols and archetypes. Predominant for him, along with the Arthurian legend, was the myth of the Garden in all of its permutations and manifestations; images of Eden loom large in Steinbeck’s major works. Sometimes the Edenic vision is of "The Promised Land,” an acreage which like Eden is bountiful, flowing with milk and honey. From such early gems as Of Mice and Men, to a flowering in his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath and coming to full fruition in the appropriately named East of Eden, although Steinbeck’s protagonists have visions of the Promised Land and Edenic glory, when they get there, it more often than not is disappointing and destructive.