East of Eden (1951) is a Nobel Prize winner novel written by John Steinbeck. It reveals the intricate details of the stories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltones. The main conflict of the novel is built around one of the main characters’ awareness of the legacy of evil that he has inherited from his mother and his hesitation about whether he is destined to become evil himself or he is empowered to overcome the evil by free choice.
The major problems of the novel are: the perpetual contest between good and evil, the freedom to overcome evil, the pain of paternal rejection, fortunes and inheritances. All of them are skillfully depicted by the author and are given his careful consideration. Though the reader is provided with the author’ personal view on the problems suggested and the author’s position is not imposed on the reader, he or she is unwillingly taking the same position as it is a rather sustained one.
Still, the same concept can hardly be applied to such a problem of the novel as racism. This is one more issue that is brought out in the novel. We consider the presence of racism in the novel to be a rather controversial one; therefore we will focus on it in order to find out its essence and decide whether it is really characteristic for the work under consideration or not.
We suppose that the author’s hints on racism are revealed through the character of Lee. Living a happy life with Cathy in California Adam Trask hires this Chinese-American man as a cook and housekeeper. Lee is an educated man whose parents emigrated to America from China. He is not a mere person employed to run a household, he is a rather philosophical man who frequently gives voices to the novel’s themes, this is where his significance to the work is rooted. The East of Eden’s crucial idea of timshel is also uncovered with Lee’s participation.
Lee’s presence in the house makes Cathy nervous and she constantly displays her indignation, but still her satisfaction from the service she gets prevails. Cathy cannot control Lee, therefore, she is afraid of him. In the long run Cathy realizes how invaluable a good servant can be and puts up with him.
Lee becomes a heartfelt friend to Samuel Hamilton and Adam Trask, he is indispensable to them since now. He often participates in their dialogues and gives useful pieces of advice. Lee is aware of the Cain and Abel story and brings to life the central concept of timshel.
One day when Lee gives Samuel a ride to the Trasks he admits that he likes being a servant as this enables him to control his master. Lee is proud of his occupation and explains his choice in such a way: “A good servant, and I am an excellent one, can completely control his master.” (Steinbeck 346).
Apart form his household duties Lee brings up Adam’s children since their mother abandons them. Throughout the whole novel this person serves as a stabilizing force in the Trask household thus getting appropriate attention from the family.
To play into Americans’ stereotypes and expectations of him Lee uses Pidgin English even though he has lived all his life in America. But the sentences like “Me talkee Chinese talk” arise other characters’ mockery (Steinbeck 367). If Lee tries to speak as Americans do, they look at him suspiciously. The degrading stereotypical Chinese pidgin dialect helps Lee not to be singled out thus making him invisible.
Also, Lee has to wear his hair long disregarding his university education as Americans expect him to do so. More carefree racism against Chinese is evident in the phrases, like “Hello, Ching Chong. Bossy here?”, or, “What did the Chink say?” that are either straightforwardly directed to Lee, or, are relevant to him (Steinbeck 359, 489). They express the Americans’ attitude to the Chinese people by example of one person.
But still we believe that the racial prejudices are ruined in the novel: Lee becomes a respectable man and is often treated as an equal. As far as the problem of racism is concerned, we consider it to be the one that is ruined by the very plot of the East of Eden. All at once the reader thus becomes an observer of the racial prejudices and the way they fail as the novel runs. To give the reader food for thought and show the happy solution of the discussed problem – this is where the author’s talent and skills become evident.
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. Penguin (Non-Classics), 1993.