East of Eden - Thou mayest

John Steinbeck calls us to remember our birthright

Welcome to By the Books, a newsletter dedicated to capturing and distributing wisdom from works of classic literature.

Each post will take less than 5 minutes to read, and will feature one great book, including:

• A brief summary

• A distillation of relevant themes

• One actionable insight

Live by the best books, one day at a time.

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“East of Eden” by John Steinbeck

This is my favorite book.

I read it for the first time after years of prodding by my mother, who had fallen in love with it when she went back to college to get an English degree in her 50’s. When I finally cracked it open, I discovered that it not only contained a profound depth of wisdom and insight, it was also a riveting page turner.

I read it through for a second time with my wife during our first year of marriage. It had enough of an impact on us that we decided to name our first child after one of the characters.

Set in California’s Salinas Valley, East of Eden is a multi-generational epic set in the late 19th Century, through to World War I. The book begins with the Trask family — Cyrus and his two sons, Charles and Adam, whose relationship echoes the story of Cain and Abel. After surviving his brother’s violent attack, Adam joins the army, then eventually marries a murderous sociopath who gives birth to twin boys, Cal and Aron. History repeats, as Cal struggles with intense jealously of Adam’s preferential treatment of Aron.

Throughout the novel, Lee, a Chinese-American servant of the Trasks, plays a crucial role in raising Cal and Aron, offering wisdom and stability in contrast to Adam’s unreliable presence as a father. It is through Lee that the book delivers many of its deepest philosophical insights about the nature of humanity, particularly the concept of timshel, a Hebrew word that translates to “thou mayest,” which emphasizes the role of choice in the shaping of one’s own destiny.

When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.

We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.

Actionable Insight*

As much as we like to believe that we are free agents, and that all our choices are rational and deliberate, the truth is that most of the time we drift along on the rails of routine and reaction, carried along by the momentum of habits, past decisions and circumstances, and generally following a deterministic path through life.

Rare indeed are the moments we take a step back and become fully aware of an opportunity to make an actual choice — to take one “course of thought or action” instead of another.

Habits, routines, even social influences are inevitable and necessary directors of our daily behaviors. But we must never forget the deep truth of what it means to be human. Choice, pure and fully embraced, is our birthright.

We can recall and claim this birthright at any time, at any moment.

Try this: Set a reminder, or even an alarm, for an arbitrary time of day — like 3:18pm. When it goes off, stop what you’re doing and think: what does timshel mean for me right here, right now?

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*As a lover of literature, I must emphasize that the best way to truly absorb the wisdom of any work of literature is to actually read it, from start to finish, the way the author intended. I hope By the Books will occasionally inspire you to do just that.