East of Eden and Goodness

Today’s confession: I don’t really care much for Rebel Without a Cause. Not hating, it’s just not for me.

James Dean’s actual masterwork was released the same year, with Elia Kazan’s East of Eden.

It’s a relatively easy film to discuss in this space. Author John Steinbeck designed this film as a retelling of the story of Cain and Abel. Observe how both sons of Adam Trask share the initial of the sons of the biblical Adam. And the story follows the same basic trajectory, all the way to the end of the arc where we get the film’s title drop, which comes from Genesis 4:16. Only this retelling spares a thought for the Cain-insert and wonders whether his evil was truly of his own making. (And somewhere in the recesses of my mind, Ariana Grande’s voice asking “Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” reverberates …)

The story follows Cal and Aaron, the two sons of Adam Trask. One seems destined for goodness, the other for wickedness. Aaron has good humor and is obedient to his father. Cal, on the other hand, is sulking and prone to fits of anger.

Adam fears in Cal some kind of base genome defect that is perhaps inherent in all descended from those who were cast out of the garden–but perhaps inherent most in certain mortals with a special proclivity for transgression. In Cal, Adam sees the same thing that he thought was wrong with his mother, a worldly woman who eventually left him (she is working in a whorehouse at the start of this film). Adam is certain that Aaron inherited his own goodness while Cal certainly must have taken after his mother.

The world in which Cal lives is also very cruel and callous. The town of Salinas has a very dry, forgotten atmosphere to it. You get that idea watching spectating neighbors laughing at Cal from their porch, and you kind of feel it just watching the mis en scene. America also enters the first world war within the space of this film, and there are some episodes where the townsfolk blame the German-born locals living in their city for the atrocities committed overseas and take aggressive action against them. This is a world that already does not afford much grace to a “bad seed” like Cal.

But watching Cal in action, we catch onto a few things. Cal’s little outbursts are basically always preceded by some slight from the world, or more often from his father specifically. Adam refusing to engage with Cal or listen to his ideas stirs feelings of rejection or hopelessness, and this leads to him acting out. The perception that he is wicked becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Cal’s actual base instinct, his true craving, is for love–mostly, the love of his father, who refuses to look at him for fear of what he’ll see. And devastating things happen to Cal in that vacuum.

As this is all going down, Cal catches the attention of Abra, Aaron’s girlfriend. At first, she takes pity on him, but as she spends more time with him, she comes to see that Cal has a secret sensitive side to him that comes out with only a bit of coaxing. We find out that in many ways, Cal is actually much better equipped to love Abra than the “perfect” Aaron ever was. Abra and her budding love for Cal becomes a sort of token for the potential the world has to feel love for Cal.

And it’s not like the good/bad binary helps Aaron either. Aaron’s expectation that he is somehow the “good one” fans something in him a lot like pride. And before the end of the story, we’ve discovered just how fragile his moral standing actually was. True goodness has you wishing love for everyone, especially those who need it most, but Aaron does not see his brother worthy of love, and he is threatened when he sees his girlfriend showing him compassion.

And, yes, I suppose we can be sad for Aaron because his girl is very obviously falling for his brother, but there’s also an underlying entitlement, and a sense of superiority over Cal. And Aaron also doesn’t like catch them making out under the tree or anything. It’s seeing Abra comfort Cal after his father rejects him yet again that compels Aaron to be needlessly cruel to him … which of course spawns Cal’s most terrible act of wickedness on the books, one that will have irreparable consequences for all involved.

Terrible things can happen in that vacuum. Seeing people for their worst impulses creates the very monsters it looks for.

But this film also shows that no matter how powerful that monster gets, no matter how much that beast has been fed, even the slightest face of genuine love has power that is deep and transformative.