East of Eden Blog: The value of family relations and how they affect the upbringing of those who experience it.

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, holds a lot of value as a classic American literature piece. The main theme of the novel is family and familial relations. It follows generations of two families: The Hamiltons and the Trasks. They represent two types of American families. The Hamiltons, on one side of the American dream, grew up with a sound family structure, with one parent that is strict (Liza) and one that was more lenient and sentimental (Sam). The nine children experienced the balance of both worlds of parenting and grew up with values instilled in them with both parents. As for the 'black sheep' child, Una, even she got love and attention from her father, so those kids grew up with love and acceptance in all of their childhood. This gave them a headstart in the world because they know how to treat others with respect and are independent enough to go on with their lives with little struggle.
   As for the Trask family, their family situation was not structured and they suffered a lot of hardships regarding women in their families. Adam Trask's mother killed herself when he was a boy, so he never grew up with a mother figure that saw him as her own son due to the fact that he and his stepbrother Charles were constantly fighting for parental love and approval. This damaged their egos, and as they grew up, to substitute for the lack of love from their parents, they would seek attention from toxic figures, such as Cathy. She used abused and manipulated Adam, and abandoned him after giving birth to his kids, much like Adam's mom abandoned him. This vicious cycle of behavior carried on to their sons because they would go on to fight for attention from Abra, much like Adam and Charles did for their mom. Toxic family structures created holes in values and caused the Trask men to seek attention from their feminine counterparts.