East of Eden

Chapter 37

John Steinbeck · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Lee, once he had given up his brackish bookish dream, made a new kind of place for himself in the house beside Reynaud’s Bakery. On the ranch his possessions had never really been unpacked, for Lee had lived poised to go someplace else. Here, for the first time in his life, he built a home for himself, feathered with comfort and permanence.

His studies he found easy and not greatly interesting. Aron had to work harder to learn, wherefore Aron had a greater sense of accomplishment when he did learn, and he developed a respect for learning out of all proportion to the quality of the learning. Cal drifted through. He didn’t care much for the sports at school or for the activities. His growing restlessness drove him out at night. He grew tall and rangy, and always there was the darkness about him.

Read the second passage aloud. Why does the chapter end on Cal, who was not even in the candy store?

For the educator The two passages are the chapter’s first and last portraits, Lee settling in and Cal drifting off, and they are worth copying side by side. The first has three sentences, all about Lee. In the first, the subject is held apart from its verb by what Lee gave up, and the rhyme in “brackish bookish” makes the lost dream sound a little absurd and a little sad. The second gives the old life and its reason: his things were never unpacked “for” he was always about to leave. The third opens with “Here,” answering the second’s “On the ranch,” and ends on an image of a nest, “feathered with comfort and permanence.” Brackish is a vocabulary word. The second passage has six sentences and closes the chapter. It begins with its object, “His studies,” set before the verb; “His” is Cal’s, since the paragraph before opens “Cal had to learn loneliness.” The second sentence turns on “wherefore” and gives Aron, who works hard and comes to respect learning “out of all proportion,” a long sentence to himself. The third, about Cal, is three words long. The last three move from school, to the night outside, to the boy himself, and end on “the darkness about him.” Rangy is a vocabulary word. For the talk prompt, some will say the chapter ends on Cal because he is the one no one sees, shut out by Aron and Abra just before; some that the failure has reached both twins and the chapter makes sure the quiet one is counted; some that the last word, darkness, leaves a question open. Ask what Cal has lost in this chapter that no one notices. Leave it open.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from Lee unpacking his books to Cal going out at night. Then choose the one sentence you think the whole chapter turns on, and say why.

Before Adam can get to his idea, Lee tells Will the mastodon story himself. Why does Lee tell Adam’s story for him? Character
Will tells Adam he has a deal to put through, but the narrator says the deal does not exist. Adam, who needs no job, says, “I’m looking for work.” Which of the two men is really at work? Moral reasoning
Will says a man who asks for advice about an idea only wants to be agreed with. What did Adam want from a Hamilton that night? Inference
After the failure, the town’s talk about Adam ends with this line: “And he had doubled the output of the ice company.” Who is saying that line, and why? Author's choice
Adam’s “strange enduring smile” lasts through the telegram and the talk of money. It goes only when Lee says he might sell the ice plant. What does the plant mean to Adam that the money does not? Character
At school the twins are now laughed at over the lettuce. In the candy store Aron says to Abra, “How do I know he didn’t lie about my mother?” What does a spoiled load of lettuce have to do with his mother? Inference

Make a Connection Think of someone, in a book, in history or in your own life, who tried something new where everyone could watch, and it failed. What did the watching add to the failure?

Vocabulary

brackish: Lee, once he had given up his brackish bookish dream, made a new kind of place for himself in the house beside Reynaud’s Bakery. Slightly salty, like water where a river meets the sea: no longer fresh, and not fit to drink. Steinbeck uses it for Lee’s dream of a bookstore and pairs it with the rhyming “bookish.” A brackish dream has lost its freshness: salt has got into it, and it cannot quench a thirst now. Lee gives it up, and only then builds a home.
Spartanism: Having broken out of his own Spartanism, he remade the Trask household, and Adam gave him no opposition. Strict, plain living that does without comfort, named for ancient Sparta, whose citizens were trained to hardship. Most people know the adjective, as in a spartan room. Lee’s Spartanism was saving: he “had never before spent a needless penny.” Steinbeck’s verb is “broken out,” as if from a cell, and what Lee breaks out into is a soft rug, a Morris chair and a gas stove.
remonstrated: Adam remonstrated, “What are you getting upset about?” Protested; argued against something to someone’s face. It comes from the Latin for pointing out, as in demonstrate. Adam’s protest is a mild one, a question, while Will is the angry one; a few lines later his face is “fiery red.” The word is a little grand for so gentle a protest, and the gap shows how little Adam expected a quarrel over his idea.
rangy: He grew tall and rangy, and always there was the darkness about him. Tall, lean and long-limbed. It comes from range, to roam, and was first said of animals built for covering ground. Steinbeck uses it in the chapter’s last sentence, about Cal, whose restlessness “drove him out at night.” The word suits a boy shut out by Aron and Abra, who roams.

Critical thinking

Aron offers to call off the engagement, saying, “I’m not good enough for you now.” By whose standard is he not good enough?
Abra says that if the lettuce had reached New York fresh, “everybody’d been bowing to him.” Was Adam’s idea foolish, or only unlucky?