Road Sign-East of Eden Part 4
Creative Visual Project
Character Sign Up
• Before you complete this presentation
• Sign up for a character from the novel - only
two students per character
Essential Question Clusters
• What is your character’s history? Where did (s)he come
from? Why? What does it mean to be from
somewhere? What is Steinbeck saying about the
notion of home?
• Why does Steinbeck choose the Hamilton’s on his
mother's side? Why not the Steinbeck's on his father's
side? Which side will you choose to write on? Why?
• Consider the importance of setting. Where will you set
your sign? Why? What time frame are you using? Why?
• Consider character development. Will your road sign
character be a major character? Why? Which will not?
• Consider thematic elements. What are your
overarching themes? How will you include them in
your sign? How will you develop them throughout the
image and written response?
Road Signs
East of Eden
• You are approaching the end of section 2 John
Steinbeck’s East of Eden.
• Road sign or messages often can apply to life
and even literary characters in some way.
Choose one character from East of
Eden
• As you think about your character look at the
list of signs that follow.
• How many could apply to your character?
• List five in your notes.
Road Signs
• Decide which of the following signs depicts
one of the characters in East of Eden.
Look at all the Road Signs
BEWARE OF DOG
BUCKLE UP
CHILDREN PLAYING
DANGER : NO SWIMMING
ROAD NARROWS
DEER CROSSING
DANGEROUS DESCENT
DETOUR
DO NOT BLOCK INTERSECTION
DO NOT DISTURB
EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY
EVACUATION ROUTE
EXTINGUISH ALL SMOKING
MATERIALS
FALLING ROCK
FIRE LANE
TURN AHEAD
IN CASE OF FIRE USE STAIRS
KEEP OFF OF THE GRASS
LOOSE GRAVEL
RESERVED PARKING
NO DELIVERIES DURING LUNCH REST AREA
NO DUMPING
RIGHT TURN ON RED AFTER STOP
NO LEFT TURN
ROAD ENDS IN WATER
NO PARKING HERE TO CURB
SLIPPERY WHEN WET
NO PASSING ZONE
SMOKING IN DESIGNATED AREAS
ONLY
NO RIGHT TURN
SPEED RADAR ENFORCED
NO SALESMEN
STOP
NO STOPPING OR STANDING
BRIDGE
NO TRESPASSING
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
NO U-TURN
VIOLATORS WILL BE PR0SECUTED
ONE WAY
VISITORS MUST CHECK IN AT
OPEN OTHER END
OFFICE
PASSING PROHIBITED
WET PAINT
POST NO BILLS
YIELD TO PEDESTRIANS
REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING
REMAIN SEATED WHILE VEHICLE IS
IN MOTION
RESERVED FOR HANDICAPPED
Let’s discuss it
Pair and share
• Turn to someone nearby
and share the both your
characters and road sign
ideas.
• Then give a suggestion to
your partner for an
additional sign that could be
used for his or her
character.
All class discussion
• You now have six ideas.
• What were some of the
ideas you shared?
Your Assignment
• Make a sign using the road sign saying and
provide graphics to further help audience
understanding of how the sign, saying, and
graphics offer insight into a particular
character.
Think about these
• Before you begin, please take note of colors used
on signs all around the world and what the colors
indicate:
–
–
–
–
–
yellow and black, warning
green and white, guide signs
orange and black, construction signs
red, negative information and warning
blue, positive signal of a required action or a feature
that you can take advantage of
– brown and white, recreation signs (like State Parks)
Don’t forget shapes
• Shapes also indicate something to the public:
– triangles indicate warnings
– circles are restrictions or requirements
– diamond shapes indicate priority
– squares and rectangles give guidance
– Make your own shape
Go Semi-Paperless
• Instead of paper you will make one power
point slide for this assignment.
• Somewhere on your slide indicate the title
and a pertinent quote from the book that
helps emphasize the road sign saying.
• You will present the slide in class and the one
page hardcopy of the slide to your instructor
Grading Criteria
• Insight into character and/or themes of East
of Eden
• Use of space, appropriateness of saying, color,
and shape to the particular character/theme;
neatness.
• Presentation of poster slide in class along with
a written analysis of the meaning of poster.
(250 words)
Choices are
• East of Eden characters for you to consider:
– Any member of the Trask family
– Any member of the Hamilton
– You must sign up for one of your choice because
we do not want any duplicating of characters for
our presentation.
One or Two Slides
• PowerPoint Slide Poster
• Written Analysis
Dangerous Descent in East of Eden
By Student Name
The road sign applies to Cathy Trask in John
Steinbeck’s East of Eden. The color red represents her connection
with Satan, black her evil side and the white the innocent people she
targets. The triangle is like a trinity: she is Cathy, Kathy and Kate. All
the same person.
Cathy is truly an evil woman. She cannot understand
goodness in others and sees it as a weakness. She attacks anyone
who tries to exert control over her. As a teenager, she kills any
inconvenient lovers and kills her parents when she wants to leave
home. She marries Adam Trask, but she drugs him on their wedding
night and sleeps with his brother, Charles. She gets pregnant and
tries to abort her twin babies but does not succeed. When the (unnamed) babies are a month old, she shoots Adam and runs away,
leaving her sons behind. She becomes a prostitute named Kate, goes
into business with Faye, another madam, and poisons her to gain
financial control of the brothel. Giddy with the money left to her by
her now dead business partner, Kate discovers she has also inherited
half of Charles Trask’s wealthy estate.
Wealth and power are important to her. She extorts
money by blackmailing customers who have political influence. At
one point she talks to her son, Cal, and praises her own successful
brothel business and the town's hypocrites: "I've got the toughest
house on the coast - and the finest clientele. Yeah! Half the stinking
city hall go there." She has arthritis in her hands by the time Cal
meets her, and she likes morphine. Cathy is a woman bent on not
only a dangerous descent but a sure descent. By the end of the
novel, she commits suicide to end her physical pain. Her money and
power cannot follow her into death, and she dies a miserable
woman, alone on a dark night.
http://www.studyguide.org/road_sign_
poster.htm
This can be your one
page paper if you wish.
Due Date
Wednesday, April 16