Chapter 23

East of Eden

Mountaineers · 10th–12th

Copywork

Samuel said that Tom was quavering over greatness, trying to decide whether he could take the cold responsibility. Samuel knew his son’s quality and felt the potential of violence, and it frightened him, for Samuel had no violence—even when he hit Adam Trask with his fist he had no violence. And the books that came into the house, some of them secretly—well, Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands.

There was the sardonic look on his face his family knew so well—the joke on himself that made him laugh inwardly. He walked by the sad little garden and all around the house—not a new house any more. Even the last added lean-to bedrooms were old and weathered and the putty around the windowpanes had shrunk away from the glass. At the porch he turned and surveyed the whole home cup of the ranch before he went inside.

Read the second passage aloud. Samuel has just read the letter twice and walked up the hill and back. Now he wears “the joke on himself”. What is the joke?

For the educator The two passages set father and son side by side and then leave the father alone with his news. In the first, the opening sentence reports Samuel’s judgment of Tom and trails a long phrase built on an -ing verb: “trying to decide whether he could take the cold responsibility.” Its key word, “quavering”, is a vocabulary word. The second sentence joins three clauses, the last with “for”, and then a dash adds a turn that repeats the clause before it: “he had no violence.” The third sentence starts down one road (“And the books that came into the house, some of them secretly”), breaks off at a dash with “well,” and starts again; it ends on a simile, “the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe.” The fourth answers it with “But” and a run of four actions, the second a pair (“crawled and groveled”) and the third a simile (“tunneled like a mole”), closing on a plain, comic picture: “the book all over his face and hands.” The second passage comes just after Samuel tells Tom, “Why, you’re a grown-up man”. Its first sentence names a look and, after a dash, renames it: “the joke on himself that made him laugh inwardly.” Its key word, “sardonic”, is a vocabulary word. The second sentence adds an afterthought after a dash: “not a new house any more.” The third opens with “Even” and ends on one small sign of age, putty that “had shrunk away from the glass.” The fourth opens with a place, “At the porch”, and widens to “the whole home cup of the ranch”. The house is never said to stand for Samuel; the student can hear it. Students copying practice a reported judgment with a trailing -ing phrase, a dash that adds a turn, a sentence that breaks off and starts again, a contrast opened by “But” with a run of actions, a dash that renames, an afterthought after a dash, and a sentence that widens from one spot to a whole view. For the talk prompt, some will say the joke is that the man who laughed at time has been caught by it; some that his sons and daughters think they are fooling him. Leave it open, since the first written question comes back to this walk, and do not explain what Samuel later means by “I know where I’m going”.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back, from Una and Anderson to Samuel and Tom at the forge door. Then pick the one moment you would keep if you could keep only one. What would the chapter lose without it?

1. Una’s death “struck Samuel like a silent earthquake”, and he sits alone and rocks himself. What does Samuel lose that Liza never had to lose?Theme

2. Tom will not tell Mary a pleasing lie. Still, he tells her, “I don’t think you really want to change.” The narrator says Tom was wrong. Why does Tom get her wrong?Character

3. In the Thanksgiving kitchen, the family lists what they have seen: the slump, the old eyes, the limp. The narrator says, “They said these things in outrage.” Why outrage, and not sorrow?Author's choice

4. Tom once crawled home drunk, and in the morning he tried to say he was sorry. Samuel told him, “Why, Tom, you were just jolly.” What did that word do to Tom’s apology?Moral reasoning

5. At the forge door Samuel looks out at the land. He repeats an old saying: a mother loves the ugly one best. Then he shakes his head sharply. Who or what is the ugly one?Inference

Make a Connection Think of a story, a film, or a time you know of, when someone first saw that a mother, a father or a grandparent had grown old. What changes between two people once one of them sees that?

Vocabulary

quavering Samuel said that Tom was quavering over greatness, trying to decide whether he could take the cold responsibility.

sardonic There was the sardonic look on his face his family knew so well—the joke on himself that made him laugh inwardly.

diffidence There was always a little diffidence between us at first.

ostracized To write it was to be suspected and ostracized.

Critical thinking

1. Samuel comes down the hill and looks at Tom as if for the first time. He says, “Why, you’re a grown-up man”. Tom asks, “Didn’t you know?” Samuel answers, “I guess I did—I guess I did.” If he knew, why does he say it now?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

2. Tom would not join the plan to fool his father. Now Samuel asks him to keep a secret from his brothers and sisters. How far has Tom become part of the plan?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

3. Will's plan spares Samuel's pride with a cheerful invitation, while Tom will not join in, saying of his father, “He’d know.” Which is the greater kindness here, the gentle trick or the plain truth?

Thesis

Objection

Revision