Steinbeck was right to feel the weight of Cain’s God-given choice. There is tremendous dignity in having such a decision. But, we must not overlook what humans consistently choose. Because of our sinfulness, despair clutches the heel of dignity—always following close behind. Praise be to our God and Father—the fount of Goodness—who gives ceaselessly by calling us out of our darkness and despair into His marvelous light.

No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us.

John Steinbeck wrote those words in the novel he identified as his grandest work, East of Eden. Evidence for Steinbeck’s personal belief in such a claim is unmistakable in his writing.  East of Eden is so reflective of the human experience that even the shocking and unbelievable events therein feel historical.  Steinbeck’s vivid description of Salinas Valley and her residents is noticeably familiar, and he conveys this familiarity in such a way that readers seem to join in reminiscence. The unfiltered—even brutal—recounting of tragedy, triumph, and the quiet anxiety or numbness that lies between provides a robust depiction of life as we know it. Thus, not only does the story feel historical, it feels like our story. Readers are not exposed to something foreign, but something in which they intimately participate. The story may not be real, but it is true.

It seems Steinbeck wrote in this way because of his views on the biblical account of Cain and Abel—the subject of the introductory quotation. For Steinbeck, every human participates in this ancient narrative. We all have Cain’s blood in our veins, and his murder is our ancestry. At more than one point, characters in the novel question what chance man ever had with such a violent past. Steinbeck derived his optimistic response from the biblical text itself.  In Genesis 4:7b, God speaks to Cain before his infamous crime: “sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou mayest rule over him (Steinbeck’s interpretation).” The choice given to Cain is the choice we all have. It distinguishes man from beast. It gives us dignity. Steinbeck believed moral agency is not only what makes us human, but what makes humans extraordinary. Though the world may attack a man time and time again, he will never be completely destroyed because he always has “the great choice.”

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