![]() ![]() In this section, we know that it's Samuel thinking these thoughts, even though they are in the third-person.Īnd since Steinbeck can get into every character's head whenever he wants, he has no problem shifting perspectives in-between paragraphs so that we get all angles of the story. When had the Welshrats started crawling in his chest? He found it then-and it was Cathy, pretty, tiny, delicate Cathy. Look at how he gets into his Grandpa Samuel's head:Īs he rode through the light and dark of tree-shade and open his mind moved on. making stuff upĪnd Steinbeck has no problem whatsoever with doing that. ![]() Steinbeck is still telling the story from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, which means that he has to get into all of the characters' heads. So Steinbeck throws in a few characters based on real people here and there, and a few anecdotes that probably really happened (like his mother Olive taking a scary plane ride). The novel is self-referential about itself as an allegory too, like when Lee straight up discusses the significance of Cain and Abel during the naming of the twins.īut back to the narrative technique. In fact, it's an allegorical piece of fiction too, which is to say that beyond being just a story, it's also using all of its characters as symbols (in this case, the symbols are from Genesis: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, etc.), which means that almost all of their actions and characteristics have symbolic precedents (Charles and Cal are farmers like Cain, for instance). To which we say this: this novel is undoubtedly a piece of fiction. But does that mean that Cathy and the Trasks are real too? Or does it mean that everything that he says about his family is fiction?" Good question, dear reader. Steinbeck wants to tell me the story of his family. (46.1.19)īut you're probably thinking, "It's all well and good that Mr. Mary and I turned around and walked stiffly across the street and into our front yard. Just look at how he shamelessly breaks out the first person during one of his tangents about his childhood: He makes a point of including anecdotes about his mother, Olive, one of Samuel Hamilton's daughters and wife to one Ernest Steinbeck. ![]() But East of Eden is a bit of an exception, because Steinbeck straight up tells you that he is a proud member of the illustrious Hamilton clan. Usually we here at Shmoop are against assuming that the narrator is the author. First Person (Peripheral Narrator) John Steinbeck ![]()
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