John Steinbecks East of Eden: Modern Biblical Story of Cain and Abel E

John Steinbeck's East of Eden: Modern Biblical Story of Cain and Abel " And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, ' Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, ' I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?' And he said, ' What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.' And Cain said unto the Lord, ' My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth" (Genesis 4:8-1, KJV). The story of Cain and Abel is probably one of the most violent and unsettling stories of the Bible. It is probably the most unsettling because it tells the truth about mankind. Rejection is the one thing that all of mankind fears, and when one is rejected anger follows. With anger comes the need to commit a crime of revenge, and with this crime comes guilt. Almost everyone has experienced this in some way. East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck is a modern retelling of the biblical tragedy of Cain and Abel. The story is reenacted through the lives of two generations of the Trask family. Cyrus Trask, the patriarch of the family and his two sons Adam and Charles live on a farm in Conneticut. Charles cries out in anguish for his father's love, but his father ignores his cries and loves Adam best... ...il and do goodness. John Steinbeck writes, " We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is" (415). In East of Eden, John Steinbeck creates this world of good and evil. All of the characters are faced with good and evil, and only one is able to triumph over evil. Cal is the representation of what everyone can be. It is possible for everyone to overcome evil if he or she decides to destroy the evil within his or her soul. WORKS CITED Steinbeck, John. Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics: East of Eden. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1992. The Bible. King James Version. World Bible Publishers, Inc.

Broken April Essay

Broken April was written by Ismail Kadare, the novel takes place in the mountainous regions of Albania during the 1920’s. The Kanun is an ancient set of rules that controls the daily lives of the people in the mountains. Such as Gjorg a 26 year old mountaineer, who is pressured by his family to seek vengeance for the death of his older brother. A newspaper writer Bessian and his wife Diana Vorpsi are from the city who are very intimate newlyweds having their honeymoon in the mountains. Kadare uses the lack or there of physical proximity to imply the strong detaching power of human relationships made by the Kanun. As illustrated by Bessian’s obsession of the Kanun causing a rejection of Diana, which is later mirrored when she develops her own obsession with it making that Bessian develops a fear of the Kanun. When Diana and Bessian were first introduced, Kadare displays a more intimate connection between them but, Bessian’s thought of the blood code is making their relationship lurking into separation. While Bessian and Diana were riding in the carriage, Bessian, â€Å"holding his wife’s hand† and at the same time â€Å"moved his head† (61) towards the window of the carriage while watching the mountains. His â€Å"holding† signifies Bessian’s dominating control of their relationship shown by the inequality of their grip. Bessian is illustrated as a dominating character because society and the blood code make it that women are inferior, by implying that Diana’s voice is worthless to Bessian. The method is also exemplified by â€Å"his wife†, which alludes to her unknown identity therefore making her seem like and unimportant character. The physical proximity still exists as a warm and tender relationship between Diana and Bessian but, Bessian’s unconscious interest in the Kanun is destroying on his focus of Diana, during their honeymoon. Diana and Bessian were approaching the tower to stay the night, and they get into an argument and Bessian â€Å"shook his dead for a moment† (84) suggesting a disapproval of Diana’s immature behavior by her smiling and their connection in the relationship. The words â€Å"moment† and â€Å"flicker† describing Diana’s quick and lively personality foreshadows Bessian developing a greater aggression towards Diana because of the blood code. Meanwhile, â€Å"match† symbolizes a destructive spark causing a powerful evil fire, foreshadowing a huge physical disconnection between them. The foreshadowing of their relationship and Bessian’s dominance leads to Diana’s opinions slowly supporting the Kanun more. After their introduction, Diana and Bessian decide to go to the tower of Orosh. During their journey and stay, Diana begins to steadily detach from Bessian and begins to become a slave to the Kanun’s seductiveness. As Diana and Bessian were planning to go to Wolf’s Pass, they were discussing about the boundary marking’s ceremony at Wolf’s Pass while inside the carriage. Diana put her head â€Å"right† (98), against the window. The physical action of her head â€Å"right† against the window suggests that she is trying to escape the discussion of the Kanun and the honeymoon because she is trying to resist the negative energy of the Kanun. Also the other meaning of the word right, signifying correctness, suggests how she is attempting to go the correct way, from the inside her of heart, away from the blood code. Additionally during the discussion Diana exclaimed, â€Å"How many opportunities to die! † when speaking to Bessian indirectly but directly to the window. The action of speaking to the window reveals a rising tension of Diana being able to express her feelings to Bessian, eventually making her feel worthless. Diana’s opinion of, â€Å"how many ways to die†, is used to compare Diana’s pale, cold, piercing opinion, compared to Bessian’s warm, passionate, intrigue of the Kanun alludes to the vast differences of their ideas and that Diana is developing a slight amusement to death. While Diana and Bessian were talking to Ali Binak, Bessian looked at his wife questioningly, as if he was saying to her, â€Å"What has come over you? (101), Bessian is starting to fear the Kanun because it is taking over Diana’s jovial sprit and replaced with a weak aggressive one. Additionally he is feeling insecure because he is not capable of giving her protection and security of a husband, therefore causing him to fear the Kanun and society it. Bessian said he saw, a â€Å"fleeting† light in her eyes. The light symbolizes purity and by it â€Å"fleeting† from her eyes shows that Bessian doesn’t know Diana’s true emotions anymore as he did before by looking into her eyes. With their opinions bringing tension between them, Diana eventually becomes engulfed in the Kanun but still seeks an escape leading to the regrets of Bessian bringing Diana on the trip. Around the end of the book in chapter six and seven, Bessian has developed a fear of the Kanun because it has generated a dark-empty look in Diana’s eyes. His fear was later developed into a feeling of remorse that Diana has become under the Kanun’s power. Diana and Bessian were in the carriage right after she saw Gjorg for the first time. Bessian â€Å"moved his head and kissed her timidly† (169), â€Å"Moved† throughout the book signifies a distant separation but Bessian is attempting to closely mend their relationship, by â€Å"kissing† her to show the affection he didn’t before. But he is â€Å"timid† because he is afraid of her new character from the Kanun and is questioning the existence of old Diana coming back. After Bessian attempts kissing Diana, Bessian fell asleep while Diana has her back turned to him as Kadare describes her action as, â€Å"timid, as if her back was towards a stranger† (181). With her back turned towards Bessian and her face towards the fire exemplifies that Diana is moving more towards a strong destructive as symbolized by the fire, the Kanun. The word â€Å"stranger† shows that Bessian is no longer important to Diana and that the roles of dominance have switched. Diana and Bessian were walking in Upper White Water they were having an intimate moment until they started talking about the tower of refuge, Diana â€Å"turned her head towards the kulla† (186). Diana’s action of turning her head exemplifies submission to the Kanun and her love for Gjorg. Meanwhile she is completely indifferent to Bessian and making an unconscious plan of going into the tower. When they were traveling back home to the city Bessian became regretful of bringing Diana and thought, â€Å"What the devil was I thinking? † (207), the question shows a majority of Bessian’s attitude towards the Kanun. Depending on how the question is read his emotions can be viewed as regret, sorrow, anger, fear, or hopelessness of completely losing Diana to the mountains. â€Å"Devil† is used as a symbol of evil perhaps referring to the evil separating power of the Kanun. In conclusion, Kadare uses physical proximity to emphasize the destructive power of human relationships made by the Kanun. In the beginning Bessian was in power because the man is seen that way in society and in the Kanun, but his obsession foreshadows Diana and Bessian’s separation. Second, Diana is trying to escape the power of the Kanun but is later completely submerged in its power. Lastly, the trip to the mountains was eventually regretted because the Kanun completely changed their intimate relationship because Diana and Bessian because it they were outsiders going into an unknown power.

My Experience At The Military - 955 Words

I really did not know the type of work related stress I was going to get when I join the military, because my mother was always there for me. The first time I left my home town, family and flew in an aircraft was when I join the Unites States Air Force. During my experience 19 years in the military, I learned that our management and supervisors work hard to learn from previously cases and to teach how to prevent and or how to deal with stress. During this literature review, I learned more on how some military member’s coup with stress including PTSD, prepare military members prior deployment and how veteran’s experiences can mentor civilians with stressful jobs, and how management can ease the work related stress by being a good mentor and having different styles of leadership. Since the government are constantly trying to shut-down the monetary assistance to the military and veterans, how they are going to get the help when in need. Sometimes it is difficult to under stand when someone turns into alcoholics and other substance abuse to include over the counter medication. Some military members or veterans are considered binge drinkers when they consume 3 or more drinks for a male and a female consumes 4 or more drinks in a single occasion. Others will start to smoke to include smokeless tobacco (Allen, Crawford, Kudler 2016). For example, some members when they are deployed to an overseas location they will use Nyquil to go to sleep and they will become dependent.Show MoreRelatedMy Experience in the Military1233 Words   |  5 PagesMarcus Pennie Written Communication September 9, 2012 My darkest hour was also the moment I became a man. When all my years of training, all the blood, sweat, and tears of running, aiming, skills training, and hand to hand combat had finally been put to the test. My first kill. It wasn’t a proud moment but it was one on necessity and choice that I’ve played over and over again and I still get the same result. It would have gone exactly the same. September 21st 1999, 1327 Zulu time. WeRead MoreMy Experience At The Military Service1611 Words   |  7 Pagesthat I served in military service at three years ago, and serving the military service was my perfect turning point that changed my entire life. I remember that when I was 20, I was very introverted that I could not even talk with other people to ask the directions. I remember that I just reached young adult who did not know about the world and just graduated from high school. I remember that I didn’t have any confidence, passion, patience, and willingness to challenge myself for my goals when I graduatedRead MoreMy Experience At The Military Service2215 Words   |  9 Pagesremember that I served in the military service three years ago, and serving the military service was my perfect turning point that changed my entire life. I remember that when I was 20, I was very introverted that I could not even talk with other people to ask the directions. I remember that I had just reached young adulthood, and did not know about the world. I remember that I didn’t have any confidence, passion, patience, and willingness to challenge myself for my goals. I remember that I was aRead MoreMy Personal Experience At The Military2071 Words   |  9 PagesMy personal experience a Non Commissioned Officer in the military, my career started on 25 March 1988, it all started with my lifelong dream of being a Soldier. My next-door neighbor was a Sergeant in the Army and every day when he gets home I would sit and chat with him, I would say I was no older than eight years old, he would say â€Å"Curtis, I can tell you will join the service in ten years from now, because every day you have different questions regarding the military† and trust me this was eachRead MoreMy Experience At The Military Community1114 Words   |  5 Pagesa group of people that live in the same place, but my community is different as its spread out all over the world. I chose to look at the needs of the military community, as it is the only true community I have been apart during my adult life. The military community is a special group of service members and thei r families who have different lifestyles than most and share a unique, family like bond. For my report I chose to interview two military spouses, currently stationed in two different statesRead MoreMy Experience At My Husband s Basic Military Training993 Words   |  4 PagesReflecting on my emotions from the past week I can say, I am finally able to smile. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my husband’s Basic Military Training graduation, which took place in San Antonio, Texas. I had been waiting for this event all quarter, that day where I would finally get to see my Airman. Even though I was only in Texas for a few days that was enough to appreciate, and realize how much I missed and need my husband. Nonetheless, the hug and that kiss at the end ofRead MoreNarrative Essay - Original Writing1643 Words   |  7 Pagesten years old when this happened. It was in the fall of fifth grade, and I had just gotten settled into the new school year. My dad was deploy ed to Kuwait, and so for the time being it was just my mom, my brother, and I. He had been deployed previously, so I was used to him being away for months at a time. One thing that helped me get through the times he was deployed was my school who offered a special class called TDY on Friday mornings before the bell rang. TDY (Temporary Duty) was specificallyRead MoreHow My Interest in Knowledge was Sparked1236 Words   |  5 PagesSome of my earliest memories are when I am being told not to ask so many questions. I wasn’t curious about why there were clouds or what made rainbows. I wanted to know why people portrayed certain behaviors. What made one person behave differently from another? Why was one family able to cope with so much turmoil in their lives but another family crumbled? I would ask all sorts of questions. This behavior became so prevalent in me that people would say, â€Å"Oh no here comes her 50 questions.†Read MoreThe Novel War By Sebastian Junge r1483 Words   |  6 PagesThe novel War, written by Sebastian Junger, records the events in Korengal, Afghanistan with the American Army from a journal’s perspective. Throughout the book, he retells his experiences of fire fights, the emotional trauma of losing a fellow fighter, the undeniably strong bond between soldiers, and the consequences combat has on family members. While this novel has some detailed and brutally honest components regarding the war in Afghanistan, I found the insight provided by Junger on combatRead MoreDouble Canopy, And Decision Making At My Level993 Words   |  4 PagesMy or my past organizations are generally the same as Triple Canopy, and decision making at my level is left to the discretion of the force protection specialist, the personal security officer, and DOD guard. â€Å"If† you cannot make a decision at the individual level with the appropriate judgement, analytical skills or sound reasoning then you don’t belong in the business. Decisions are based on personal experiences, policies, procedures, protocol, operation instructions, individual training or warning