#3 East of Eden John Steinbeck 1952

In East of Eden Adam's wife leaves him after she bares the twins, Cal and Aron. For several years, Adam sinks into a type of depression, and does nothing with either his farm or his children. By the time he snaps out of his stupor the boys have grown up a considerable amount. One day the family is visited by a family and their young daughter, Abra. She begins to ask the boys questions about the mother they never knew and began a spark of curiosity in the two. When they proceed to ask their father about their mother, Adam claimed she was dead and buried on the other side of the country. Lee, Adam's servant, advises him against it, saying that the boys will find out eventually, and that it would be better for them to hear the truth now. I spent a long time contemplating this theory. In some ways I found it true, and false in others. If Aron and Cal were told from the beginning that their mother was a whore it would have always followed them bearing a mark of shame. At least if they were under the delusion their mother was dead, they might be able to use this faulty image to soften the sting of the comments of sharp tongued counterparts. A further advantage might be that when they finally did discover the truth they would be older and better capable of handling the news and why their father kept it from them. Cal is an exapmle of this. He found out the truth for himself and handled it as well as to be expected. The only downside might be the off chance they do not handle it well, as Cal believes Aron might.