Chapter 2

East of Eden

Mountaineers · 10th–12th

Copywork

Besides, they loved to hear Samuel talk of the world and its thinking, of the poetry and philosophy that were going on outside the Salinas Valley. He had a rich deep voice, good both in song and in speech, and while he had no brogue there was a rise and a lilt and a cadence to his talk that made it sound sweet in the ears of the taciturn farmers from the valley bottom.

Samuel kept always a foreignness. Perhaps it was in the cadence of his speech, and this had the effect of making men, and women too, tell him things they would not tell to relatives or close friends. His slight strangeness set him apart and made him safe as a repository.

Read the first passage aloud. The narrator tells what Samuel talked about, but he never gives one word Samuel said. He gives how it sounded: “a rise and a lilt and a cadence,” three words joined by “and.” What does that sentence do to your own voice as you read it?

For the educator Two passages, five sentences, both about Samuel’s voice. The first is two sentences from the forge paragraph. Its opening sentence sets out what Samuel talked about in two parallel “of” phrases, “of the world and its thinking, of the poetry and philosophy”, and places it all “outside the Salinas Valley.” The next is long and runs on “and”: “good both in song and in speech”, then a concession, “while he had no brogue”, then three near-synonyms strung together, “a rise and a lilt and a cadence”, before it lands on “the taciturn farmers from the valley bottom.” The sentence gives no word Samuel said, only how he sounded and how it landed. The second passage is a whole short paragraph. It opens on a five-word sentence with the adverb out of its usual place, “kept always a foreignness”, then guesses with “Perhaps”, tucks in an aside set off by commas, “and women too”, and closes on a plain cause and effect: his strangeness “set him apart and made him safe as a repository.” Students copying the two practise parallel phrases, a long sentence held together by “and”, an aside between commas, and a short opening sentence that the paragraph then explains. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who says the string of “and”s makes the reader lilt along, so the sentence does what it describes, and for one who says the piling up slows the reader the way a listener leans in. Some will notice that the second passage hears the same “cadence” turn into trust. Both can point to the sentences.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in its two parts. First the Hamiltons, from Ireland to Liza’s belief that “rewards came later.” Then the narrator’s argument about the hill families, up to the last line. Then pick the one sentence you think the chapter turns on, and say why you chose it.

1. The farmers carried Samuel’s stories “carefully home,” but the stories “spilled out on the way.” What was it that spilled?Inference

2. Samuel’s customers kept putting off his pay, and he “had no gift for reminding them.” Picture him at one farmer’s door, asking for his money. What would he have lost by asking?Character

3. Liza thought anyone having a good time was “wide open to the devil.” The narrator adds, “I guess Samuel was wide open to the devil. His wife protected him whenever she could.” Protected him from what?Character

4. The narrator can’t remember how Liza dressed. So he decides her clothes must have “matched herself exactly.” When he fills a gap like that, what does he fill it with?Author's choice

5. Samuel found “quite soon” that hill land would not feed his family without water. Still, with each birth he took another quarter-section. In part 2 the narrator says settlers took “worthless land just to own it.” Why does Samuel keep taking land he knows is poor?Inference

Make a Connection Think of a story your family tells about someone you never knew well. Which parts do you know are true, and which has the family filled in? What does the story say about that person, and what does it say about the family telling it?

Vocabulary

taciturn He had a rich deep voice, good both in song and in speech, and while he had no brogue there was a rise and a lilt and a cadence to his talk that made it sound sweet in the ears of the taciturn farmers from the valley bottom.

repository His slight strangeness set him apart and made him safe as a repository.

Critical thinking

1. The narrator says the hill families lasted because they trusted themselves, not only because they trusted God. No one in the chapter takes sin more seriously than Liza. Where does her strength come from?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

2. Samuel can invent, heal, sing and talk, but he cannot collect a debt or find water on his own land. Is his life as this chapter shows it a success or a failure?

Thesis

Objection

Revision