(spoilers below)
i just finished steinbeck's weightiest novel, and i was pleasantly surprised. it's the first work of his i've read (or if i read something in high school, it left zero impression on me), and i found it much more enjoyable to read than i expected based on how i've heard people bitch about grapes. i thought a good chunk of the dialogue was ponderous and preposterous, and the characters are for the most part archetypes of good and evil which i don't usually expect in a book written in the last century, but the plot is tight for such a long work and it hardly ever bogs down.
anyway, my question is what's up with tom hamilton?!? he gets built up as a samuel's favorite son, repeatedly described as destined for greatness if he can make the choice, and he seems to heading for a crucial part in the latter half of the book only to kill himself halfway through -- but steinbeck makes that scene somewhat ambiguous, so i can't be sure he actually died, and for the next few hundred pages i was expecting him to return, until i realized i was too close to the end and he really was dead and gone. his name doesn't even come up once after his death! i don't get it. i don't see how his being in the book adds to the plot at all, or to the theme except in a tangential, fairly obvious way, ie, (to cut through a lot) though mayest rule over sin, or thou may not, or thou may abdicate by killing thouself.
east of eden clearly has some autobiographical elements to it -- steinbeck appears as a character, child of one of tom's sisters, so is the whole hamilton clan real? is that why tom appears in the book, because he existed and committed suicide in real life? it seems to me that's a touching, thoughtful way or memorializing him but isn't a great way to write fiction. distance and control over subject material and all that. sorry this is so long, but so yeah, what's up with tom?
― common_person (common_person), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)
i guess i'm asking, is that all, or is there something i'm missing?
also, what did other people think of this book, etc, etc?
― common_person (common_person), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)
"east of eden" was my least favorite steinbeck novel for the very reasons you mentioned: it was so horribly obvious what was going to happen the entire way through & the whole C&A names & their evident fates drove me insane. all the other steinbeck i've read, especially "of mice and men" and "the grapes of wrath," i thought were much more nuanced, subtle & skillfully written.
i read the book a few years ago & i forget tom hamilton's role exactly (perhaps giving credence to your theory about his insignificance). wasn't he the fellow who was good at business & yet never really made any human connections? if that's the one i'm thinking of, perhaps steinbeck had him kill himself to show how empty that sort of life would be, which i think fits in well with the other themes of the book...
the only character i liked was the chinese fellow who hid his knowledge of english.
― j c (j c), Monday, 17 May 2004 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)
I don't think it's one of his best (and I'm a big fan of Steinbeck). Compared with the characterisation of Cannery Row or the prose chapters of Grapes of Wrath, it appears heavy handed. The film starts half way through the book and is the better for doing so.
If you wish to give Steinbeck another chance try Tortilla Flat. Funny as hell.
― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 17 May 2004 08:16 (twenty-one years ago)
j c, the hamilton you're thinking of is will. tom is his younger brother, and they both have trouble making connections. tom's very happy when his sister (i forget her name, i think it starts with a D) comes to live with him on the family farm, but she has stomach trouble and he gives her some salts, thinking they will help, but they end up killing her. after this [it is strongly hinted that] he shoots himself. so yeah, he doesn't play that big of a role. but i thought js was setting him up for a big role, that's why i was confused about his sudden death. maybe that was js's intention.
mikey, thanks for the suggestion. i probably will come back to steinbeck, it may be a while until i do, though.
― common_person (common_person), Monday, 17 May 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)