East of Eden week 4

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Week 4

Well, so continues the book of wonder called East of Eden. We left off somewhere around the point of when Adam was beaten close to death and he had dragged half stumbled back to his house where his step brother who gave the beating was rightly punished, with what, we don’t know exactly. Our friend Adam actually was holed up in his room, bed ridden, for 4 days. 4 days. I was extremely shocked as to the reasoning behind his beating. It all came boiling down to the fact that Cyrus (Adam’s dad) loved Adam more than Adam’s half brother. And how he came to this knowledge is that Cyrus, on his birthday, received a puppy from Adam and Cyrus loved it instantly and started playing with it and teaching it tricks and how to hunt and other such things. While his second son gives him an expensive ivory handled knife/razor and Cyrus doesn’t hardly touch it. He doesn’t even take it out and sharpen it. I just thought that was a weird way to think of how your dad doesn’t love you but whatever.

While Adam was in bed his dad gets him enrolled in the Army, like I hope I have said before Adam’s dad is a military freak. Plain freak, I have no idea why he is so obsessed with the military but I am pretty sure that he is just trying to live through his son and at the same time try and do what is best for his weak, spineless son.

So, Adam eventually goes off to the Army and his brother stays behind for the sole factor that Cyrus was one of the few that actually had some sort of inkling that his second son was a crazy nutcase. Adam actually hates the Army all together, he just wants out of there and during battles he purposely misses the enemy because of the fact that he hates the idea of killing someone. I actually really like the fact that Adam kinda has the guts to stand up, though quietly against the army for what he believes in. I honestly believe that Adam should not have gone to the military, yeah it built maybe some character into him and possibly a backbone, but it all in all did absolutely nothing to help him out in the long run. His term lasted for a grand total of 5 years, and though he didn’t lose and limbs like his father, Adam didn’t have the heart to return home. For all that was waiting for him was his bother. Adam’s step mother died because of a “weakness” in her blood and his father surprisingly got a job in Washington being a big wig about telling people about what the army should do, and eventually the army listens to this big bad of hot air. I mean really? You’re listening to someone who has almost no idea to what he is spewing to you guys and you follow is wacked out advice? Messed up… just… ugh….