In John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, there is a reoccurring theme of good v evil that appears in all of the characters in this novel. Steinbeck believes that the story of good v evil is the only story in this world that all people struggle with and have to come to a conclusion about. All people will be faced with the final questions; was their life good or bad? Will people remember them as a good person or a bad person? Will their legacy live on or die with them? This struggle is fought by every generation who has to face the same ancient questions time and time again. Steinbeck believes that humans never have and never will learn from the past and overcome this but will continue to fight this battle for all eternity. The theme of good v evil is not of them as polar opposites but as the struggle between them. Every character in this novel struggles with this but some of them give up and decide to go completely one way or another. “But the Hebrew word, the word timshel— ‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on man. For if ‘Thou mayest’— it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not’” (Steinbeck 303). All the characters in this novel that believe in thou mayest struggle the most with good and evil because they know there is a choice and they can choose to go one way or the other. They do not just have to go one way because they think it is in their genes or because they are being pushed in that direction. Steinbeck’s tone is very optimistic because he believes that there is a choice and the bad can choose to be good even if they are meant to be bad. Cornell West says that we are who we are because of our families but Steinbeck is challenging that and saying that a person can change their fate if they decide to be good. But they can also go in the opposite direction and be bad when they are being pushed to be good. Abra is being pushed towards good by Aron because he believes that she is all good like him. Aron is making Abra out to be something she is not and morphing her into the person he wants her to be instead of the person she really is. “’He doesn’t think about me. He’s made someone up, and it’s like he put my skin on her. I’m not like that— not like that made-up one.’ ‘What’s she like?’ ‘Pure!’ said Abra. ‘Just absolutely pure. Nothing but pure— never a bad thing. I’m not like that’” (496-497). Aron does not feel the desire to do anything bad so he has chosen to be good and pure and he tries to make Abra like that too, but she is not. Abra can feel the bad inside of her so she struggles with it.
Steinbeck says that, “Humans are caught— in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and their generosity too— in a net of good and evil” (413). Here Steinbeck is saying that in everything people say, do, and think the people around them are deciding if they are a good person or a bad person. Steinbeck gives three examples; one person does everything he can to get rich and then tries to pay everyone that he hurt back once he has all the money he wanted. When this person died everyone was happy about his death, so overall this person was remembered as bad because of what he did before he was rich. Even though this man tried to pay back his sins, everyone remembered what he did and knows he’s a bad person because of it. Another man was just bad and tricked and manipulated people his whole life and so when he died everyone was happy as well. The last man helped people throughout his life and made them brave when they were weak and did nothing for himself, so he was remembered as good. Cyrus Trask was remembered as good by the Vice-President and the people that he worked with because he had a great military career and was a great general and so he had a very large funeral. However he was remembered as bad by his children because they were the only ones who knew that he lied about his time in the military. “’He was not at Chancellorsville. He was not at Gettysburg or the Wilderness or Richmond or Appomattox’… ‘How did he get away with it? How in hell did he get away with it? Nobody ever questioned it. Did you? Did I? Did my mother? Nobody did. Not even in Washington’” (66). Cyrus had made a large sum of money and had tricked everyone he knew into thinking that he spent more time in the military then he did. Only Adam and Charles knew the truth so they remembered him as a bad person, while everyone in Washington remembered him as good and mourned his death because they did not know the truth. People remember the dead by the actions they make during life which determine if they are good or evil. Cyrus’s legacy in the military lived on because he was a great military leader and his battle strategies were used by many generals after him. However, the legacy he left with his children did not live on, because they knew him as a bad person so neither of them wanted to be like him.
“We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is” (425).

The behavior of good people live on because it inspires people to be good while the behavior of bad people die because no one will adopt the evil behavior of someone who was hated. The good that Samuel Hamilton left lived on in his children and Lee which made him immortal. Lee was a good person because his whole life he worked for other people and left all his own dreams unfulfilled. Lee was a huge part of the Trask family and they would not be able to get along without him and he was kind of like a mother to Cal and Aron but they never realized it. Lee did everything for them and never asked for anything in return, he was one of the most pure characters in the whole novel. He was also Cal’s inspiration for overcoming his bad and realizing that he does not have to follow in his mother’s footsteps. “’You’ve got the other too. Listen to me! You wouldn’t even be wondering if you didn’t have it. Don’t you dare take the lazy way. It’s too easy to excuse yourself because of your ancestry. Don’t let me catch you doing it! Now— look close at me so you will remember. Whatever you do, it will be you who do it— not your mother’” (448).

Lee was very convincing and was able to take someone who was going down the path to being bad, turn them around and give them the chance of being good.
“I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite any changes we may impose in field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story” (413). Here Steinbeck describes the struggle between good and evil as present from our birth to our death and no matter who someone is or how smart they are or what difference they make in the world, it all comes down to the actions they made to get there. Sherriff Horace Quinn made a huge impact in the town of Salinas and he knew everything that went on and he let some illegal things go on to protect people. If Quinn could not prove something bad was happening, he did not waste his time on it.
“In all the years since Adam’s shooting Sherriff Quinn had kept track of Kate. When Faye died, he knew instinctively that Kate was probably responsible, but he also knew he hadn’t much of a chance of convicting her, and a wise sheriff doesn’t butt his head against the impossible. They were only a couple of whores after all” (558).
Sheriffs are supposed to fight crime and lock away anyone they know is bad. Quinn however knew about Kate and when he got the pictures of the important men in her brothel, he burned them instead of convicting them. Quinn made some enemies and some friends during his time as sheriff and after his death there will be a lot of different opinions about whether he was good or bad depending on how he affected the life of each individual. The people of high authority should make the right decisions and the question of if he made the right decisions will always be of mixed opinion in the town of Salinas. Horace Quinn will live on in some people while he will die in others. “I believe that there is only one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder” (413). Steinbeck believes that the only story that exists in this world frightens some people because they are scared of turning out bad and in the end being thought of as evil. It also inspires others to do good in this world and end up with hundreds of people mourning their death. Steinbeck tells the story of a king who asked Solon the Athenian who the luckiest person on earth was, Solon responds by saying that he cannot tell if he is lucky because he is not dead yet. “And this answer must have haunted Croesus dismally as his luck disappeared, and his wealth and his kingdom. And as he was being burned on a tall fire, he may have thought of it and perhaps wished he had not asked or not been answered” (413-414). The king Croesus, was a very well-liked king before he asked that question, but once he got the answer he let it haunt him until he died burning at the stake. This story of evil v good also inspires people to do good. Tom Hamilton was a good person who was struggling and on the verge of something great. However he never took the chance so he never amounted to much. He loved his family and had a hard time whenever any of them died. Tom did not know about timshel so he did not know that he could be forgiven for his sins and choose to live after he accidentally killed his sister. “Samuel spoke softly but his voice filled the room. ‘Be good, be pure, be great, be Tom Hamilton.’ Tom ignored his father. He said, ‘I’m busy greeting my friends,’ and he nodded to Discourtesy and Ugliness and Unfilial Conduct and Unkempt Fingernails. Then he started with Vanity again. The Gray One shouldered up in front. It was too late to stall with baby sins. This Gary One was Murder” (408).

Tom killed himself because he could not live with his sins but he was a good person who was loved and he saved his mother from the knowledge that he killed himself. Tom Hamilton was good but he was unaware of timshel so he did not know that he could forgive himself. John Steinbeck believes that there is only one story in this world and it is the story of good and evil. It is the struggle each person has to face between the two that will not end until their death. John Steinbeck portrays this theme in his novel, East of Eden where every character struggles with it and has to overcome one or the other. Steinbeck believes that no matter how much of a difference a person makes or what they do in their life, it all comes down to the actions they perform and if they are nice to other people or not. This struggle between good and evil will continue in every generation until the end of time and no one will ever learn from their ancestor’s mistakes. “A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well— or ill?”(413)

Work Cited
Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Penguin Books. 1992.