https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1 Made for McCann en-us 2018-01-30 16:43:51 UTC 2018-02-03 22:59:15 UTC hello@padlet.com kyang0011 https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/226190895 "'I think I can,' Lee answered Samuel. 'I think this is the best-known story in the world because it is everybody's story"' (268). 

This meta-analysis allows Steinbeck to connect the individual characters to a more widespread issue through diction of asking '"What way will the world go,'" (411) allowing the generality of this question to be connected to all of humanity. The background of the story has already set up an existential light, in which Samuel, Adam, and Lee make attempts to answer the questions they have posed of mankind. Thus, with these questions posed by the narrator, one can only assume that this set of questions will be answered by the three of them and become the universal standard of living.]]> 2018-01-30 16:51:21 UTC https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/226190895 jyosh0127 https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/226200688 "I remember clearly the deaths of three men" (Steinbeck 412).
Greek mythology of the Fates or the Judges of the Dead. 
The connection of the Fates is significant in showing how the death of each character was destined. It adds to the pattern of death throughout the novel. This emphasizes the order of death through morality in the characters. The first man is described to be wealthy and this can be symbolic to Samuel in his rich personality and character towards others throughout the novel. The second man is parallel to Cathy and her manipulative character, comparing her to Satan. The third man is surrounded by positive diction, giving a generalization that the man played an important role in others lives. This man can be compared to Lee and his influential role to the majority of the characters.


]]> 2018-01-30 17:06:12 UTC https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/226200688 xgome0018 https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/227723175 Steinbeck's purpose of writing chapter 34 was solely to  solidify the theme of "Good vs. Evil" that had matured itself throughout the entirety of the text. The first piece of information in chapter 34 that would reinforce this idea is brought as an allusion to the bible, the following quote is stated when Steinbeck narrates the story of the three men, "'Do you not consider me lucky?'...'how can I tell, you are not dead yet' (Steinbeck 411). This line references the scene in 2 Corinthians 5:10 where the rapture is depicted and it is stated that the "good" of our lives cannot be judged by us, but only a higher being. This is important because it develops the idea that Steinbeck wants the higher beings or in this case, readers, to decide the fate of his characters and whether they are good or bad.

A following line which would aid in the development of another train of thought is when Steinbeck states a quote that seems to parallel the idea that individuals must bear the duties of their forefathers, "Vice always has a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world" (Steinbeck 415). Steinbeck essentially poses a statement to his readers telling them that all Good and Evil that is brought is inherited from ancestors before, however "good" is acquired through age and evil is brought in the beginning. This statement can hold its ground when applied to the characters in the novel as with time, many gain their sense of virtue and wisdom while losing evil. The assertion pairs well with the riddle, "Mountains will crumble and temples will fall, no man can survive its endless call" with the answer of course being: time. 

As the idea was developed a few paragraphs ago, Steinbeck uses chapter 34 as a tool to let readers be wary of the tactics that he has employed to distract and modify their way of thinking. This is seen in the line where Steinbeck is speaking of the three men, " Then there was a man, smart as Satan, who, lacking some perception of human dignity and knowing all too well every aspect of human weakness and wickedness... until he found himself in a position of great power" (411). This is perhaps one of Steinebeck's more obvious allusions where this third man follows the path of Lucifer. he convinces all that he is good until revealing his intentions. Through the inclusion of Lucifer's story, Steinbeck is able to complete the idea that a "good/beloved" character who can be perceived as righteous may indeed have alternative motives.]]> 2018-02-03 08:29:30 UTC https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/227723175 jyip0001 https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/227798389
Steinbeck lays out the surface insignificance of money interest, when he sets up his three-man example with a prior paragraph stating that “...after the living take stock of the dead man’s property...Was his life good or was it evil?” (414).  In stripping away ideas of property, the judgement of man is clear in the open.  A society-known man enters in the first, drawed out example of “the richest man of the century, who, having clawed his way to wealth through the souls and bodies of men, spent many years trying to buy back the love he had forfeited" (414).  This evokes other well-known texts like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, written a century before East of Eden, and history’s sub-narrative of 1850s capitalist patrons like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.  Steinbeck wants to signify the blindfold created from seeing any importance of money, because it falls to the concepts of morality.  Transitioning and delving in a universal, social commentary, Steinbeck brings up the three types of people to further signify the role that external onlooking and judgement has, as readers and Steinbeck has done the same for the examples.  It is important to bring up universally recognizable narratives as intertextuality grows out a prominent categorization of what part of humanity are baseless, what good should be strived toward.  How will the brothers and beings of the humankind hone in on correcting and knowing each other's moralities?  Steinbeck expands these communal corrections to be perhaps the key to universal "good".]]> 2018-02-03 22:53:53 UTC https://padlet.com/xgome0018/5za6ksbvqv1/wish/227798389