The Best Thing I’ve Ever Read

I don’t believe in an objective best and worst in reference to art, so when I say that I’m writing about the best thing that I’ve ever read, what I mean is that I’m writing about my personal favorite piece of writing that I have read.  The best work of literature that I’ve had the pleasure of reading in my opinion is East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and there are numerous reasons why.

(spoiler alert for East of Eden – Please read the book before this post.)

One of the stand out reasons that makes this novel the masterpiece that it is are the characters.  Every last one of them is believable, distinct, and excruciatingly fascinating.  Cathy Ames serves as an antagonist, but she is so much more than that.  Even though the reader will come to dislike her very much over the course of the book, they will always be fascinated by her motives and means of reaching them.  She even plays on the reader’s own hopes for humanity by seeming to develop an actual loving relationship with the madame of a whorehouse.  Even though we’d already seen her kill and abandon her family and home, we hang onto hope that there is a sliver of humanity left in her, but we are fooled as should have been expected and feel like fools because of it.  This perfectly parallels another aspect of her character that makes her so incredible;  to other characters, she appears completely innocent.  She utilizes their faulty perception of her to take advantage of them and more than anyone else, she does this to Adam.

Adam is an equally incredible character in my opinion.  He serves as our protagonist throughout the first half of the book, and the first half of one of the two pairs of siblings throughout the book that mirror the biblical story of Cain and Abel.  Adam despite not setting out to, always earns all admiration from his father.  A key aspect of Adam’s character is his unwillingness to take action in nearly any circumstance.  He depends upon his brother to defend him, so he becomes completely submissive to him to the point that when his brother turns on him and beats him, he allows himself to be beaten.   After marrying Cathy and having her bare twin sons to him, he makes no true effort to make her stay.  Additionally, he completely shuts down after she leaves, and does not name his sons for months after they were born.

As I approach a limit on how long this post can be, I know that I cannot talk nearly as much about this masterpiece as it deserves to be talked about.  With that in mind, I can only end this by discussing one of the absolutely best characters within the book and the overarching theme throughout the story associated with him, Lee and Timshel.  Lee is a servant hired by Adam who ends up taking care of the two twins and serving as a source of wisdom and insight to all who he interacts with.  In many ways, he is more of a father to the twins than Adam ever was.  He first introduces us to the concept of Timshel during a conversation with a neighbor of Adam.  They are discussing the story of Cain and Abel and there is a specific part of the story that is translated very differently between two common versions of the Bible.  One promises a triumph over sin while another demands a triumph over sin.  Lee decides to trace the problem to its roots, and after a long amount of research, he discovers that the most accurate translation of the term in question, Timshel, is thou mayest.  This gives the choice to each person as to whether or not they will conquer sin.  It does not promise it, and it does not demand it.  It is a perfect theme for the book, and in the end, which I will not give away even to the masochists that have read this far without having read the book despite my spoiler warning, this theme ties everything together absolutely perfectly.

Author: Jackson Palmer

Jackson Palmer is a student studying literature at the Mississippi School of the Arts. He hopes to use the education he obtains there to write novels, short stories, poetry, and scripts for movies, television, and theater productions. Additionally, he would like to write within a number of genres such as comedy, drama, horror, etc. Some of his favorite writers and influences include Billy Joel, John Steinbeck, and Dan Harmon. He hopes to explore concepts and systems of thought such as existentialism, nihilism, and fulfillment within his writing. He would like to thank you visiting his blog and hopefully reading his work. View all posts by Jackson Palmer