East of Eden: Caleb Trask Essay
Caleb “Cal” Trask is one of Adam Trask’s twin sons, Aron and Cal Trask, born from Adam’s former wife, Cathy, Cal is probably the most complex person in John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden. Cal was from birth more of the devilish than his brother Aron, and took after his mother much more than Aron did, which made Adam’s favorite much easier to see. Throughout the book East of Eden, Cal faces many trials and temptations of the devil and does give in sometimes, but other times he stands up to the evil and over powers it. To his father scriptures, Adam thinks of his sons as Cain and Abel and clears shows through his actions that Cal is Cain and Aron is Abel. Caleb Trask, although fighting off the evils of his mother, has the power and strength to use the good that his father and brother have pounded into him throughout his life. Cal and Aron are supposedly identical twins, but even identical twins have some different looks and, of course, actions. In the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Cal is described as being darker in complexion, bigger and stronger than his angelic and fair skinned brother. Steinbeck makes certain things clear in the differences between Cal and Aron, Cal is described to be more of the watchful one of the two and soon in the novel realizes that people prefer and always lean towards Aron when it comes down to the two of them. This makes Cal crave attention and often feels rejected making him crave the love of his father, like his uncle Charles, even more than he would’ve thought. In the book, Cal says many times to himself to “Don’t be mean” and that he doesn’t want to be lonely. This leads Cal to say hurtful things to his brother Aron when Cal realizes that he can manipulate his brother, causing him pain and confusion, he uses that to his advantage, even though sometimes he loves his brother Aron, he also envies him for being their father’s favorite son. As the book progresses Cal sees what he thinks is a darkness inside of him and is