Why Charles is My Favorite East of Eden Character (as someone who is nowhere near finished with the book)

It’s always scary to have an opinion on something you don’t know a lot about (or, more importantly, pretty stupid) and even more so when you don’t even know the whole story. At the point I’m at right now in the book, however, Charles is my favorite character in East of Eden, or at least, the most fascinating to me. And I’m saying this as someone who wrote “Cathy’s kinda awesome” in the margins above her initial description only to have my mind changed a paragraph later as the book explained her lying and seductive tendencies. 

But I think it’s kinda fun to record my thoughts as I read the book and see how they change as the chapters go on; I’m totally good with being wrong anyways. 

While this book so far is based on the story of Cain and Abel, I tend to think that the Cain character, Charles, has very understandable reactions to the way he grew up. Unlike the biblical Cain, who has the one true God as the receiver of his gift, Charles has an imperfect father. Imperfect isn’t strong enough a word- we’re all imperfect and fall short of the truth, but I can’t express how frustrating it would be for a child to grow up with this guy as their dad. While having an entirely insufferable persona based entirely on lies and exaggerations, he also does not even bother to love his own son at all. 

Charles grows up unloved and undisciplined. Cyrus (the father) likes Adam more and loves him in his own way (which still sucks, but even having this attention is better than being ignored) and his father disciplines Adam because he cares for the way he turns out, while he lets Charles do whatever he wants. And as a result Charles becomes a child no one can control, and one no one can stand to be around. He was never taught to have his natural energy or wild personality trained, and as a result of this it becomes a danger to others and even himself. 

And Charles looks up to his father. He is much more like his father than Adam is. He adores him and wants his approval more than anything. He’s tough- army material. Everything his father glorifies. And his father couldn’t care less. 

My personal take is Cyrus doesn’t like himself. How could he truly be proud of himself when he knows deep down he’s a fraud? And when he sees himself in his child, even though he has all the qualities he praised, he hates it. He knows what kind of person he himself is, and he’s sickened to see it in Charles. 

As Steinbeck later says, “The parents, denying it in themselves, were horrified to find it in their children.”

Charles grows to be filled with rage; unloved, uncared for, and understandably confused, he becomes angry and restless. 

And when he spent a lot of time and effort on a thoughtful gift for Cyrus, his father who he loved, and realized he couldn’t even care less, he was heartbroken; even more so that he seemed to adore Adam’s cheap, last minute present. 

He takes his anger out on Adam, beating him up and leaving him in the field, a punishment that Adam did not deserve in the slightest- but it’s hard to expect a better reaction from an unloved, untrained child. Unlike the Cain and Abel story, Adam does not kill Charles. (Although maybe he might’ve–if he was able to find where Adam hid soon after, which Charles claims to not remember, as he was blinded with rage.)

But in my opinion the worst thing Cyrus did to Charles was to leave him alone. The child who wanted nothing but to be loved, wild and energetic, built for more, to be caged and isolated on that old farm as he began the most formative years of his life– it’s torture for anyone to be left that alone, and almost criminal to someone like Charles. 

Left to sit in the memories of his mistreatment; having been unloved by his family and then given no opportunity to be loved by anyone else. Cyrus may have been right about his energy being dangerous in the army, (although it is the energy Cyrus created by his neglect) but to have the comradery of the soldiers and family of the military would have been good for him, or at least to go anywhere where there are other people, school, work, anything– the isolation was a cruel move. 

I have no idea what Charles will go on to do. So many of the passages of Charles writing his brother, missing him, begging for love and attention were absolutely heart-wrenching to read, as well as the passages revealing what his loneliness did to him.

His dark face took on the serious expressionlessness of a man who is nearly always alone.

Charles developed a restlessness that got him out at dawn. He worked the farm mightily because he was lonely.

He wondered about Adam. He wanted Adam home.

“He liked everything you brought him. He didn’t like me. He didn’t like anything I gave him.”

The whole weight of his father was on him, but it was his father and no one could take his father away from him.

“Seems to me like something’s not finished … Something didn’t get done … there is something wrong, like it didn’t get finished, like it happened too soon and left something out. It’s me who should be where you are and you here. I never thought like this before.”

“He doesn’t think you love him.”

So, at this point, Charles is my favorite and the character that interests me the most (although I feel like, from the early descriptions I have, that either Samuel or his son Tom might end up being my favorites as the book progresses) and he is the character that I think was the most screwed-over. 

Charles needed so much better. 

The past doesn’t justify anyone’s future actions- but it’s stupid to plant a seed and be surprised at what grows. 

I hope there’s a better ending for Charles, that he can get rid of all his anger and bitterness, leave his sin behind, and find some real love or peace by the end of the book. 

Anyways, so so much is packed in the first part of East of Eden, and Steinbeck is a really brilliant writer and I can’t wait to finish the book. More essays on this story to come- thanks so much for reading so far & feel free to let me know what you think!