Honors American Literature 220 – East of Eden by John Steinbeck – Reading Guide
Complete the reading guide AS you read the novel, not afterward. The questions will help you find the kind of important
details you will need to fully understand the book. Consider downloading this Word document (or copy/pasting the text
into a Google Doc) to type in your answers; the document will expand as you add more notes.
*** Review The Book of Genesis Chapters 2-4. Summarize here.
*** As you read, answer the following questions accurately and concisely. The questions will aid you in
comprehending the story and suggest some deeper themes in the text. Make sure to record the page number where
you found the information.
PART ONE
1. Describe the Salinas Valley. Give at least 5 details that contribute to the mood/feeling of this place.
2. Explain Samuel’s choice of land in the Salinas Valley and how this land affects the Hamilton family’s lifestyle.
3. Describe Adam and Charles’s upbringing, including their parents and the manner in which they are raised.
4. Describe the relationship between Adam and Charles.
5. What is Cyrus’s opinion about each of his sons joining the military?
6. Describe Adam and Charles’s walk after dinner one night.
7. Describe Adam’s time in the military. How does he interact with his father and Charles during this time?
8. What do Adam and Charles learn about their father upon his death? How do they each react, especially when they
finally meet up?
9. How is Cathy Ames introduced? Summarize the first four paragraphs of chapter 8. Do you agree with the narrator’s
statements?
10. Identify at least 5 details from chapter 9-10 that support the narrator’s statements about Cathy as a monster.
11. After her arrival, how does Cathy impact Adam and Charles’s life? What does each brother want from her, and what
does she want from each of them?
PART TWO:
12. Chapter 12 describes the change in American attitudes at the turn of the century. How does he say “the old time” was
different than the new times? Tell both the good and bad.
13. Why does Dr. Tilson mention Mrs. Laurel to Cathy?
14. What contradicting comments does Sam Hamilton make about the valley?
15. Describe Olive Hamilton. What is her job? Whom and why does she marry? How does she react when World War I
spreads its effects to CA?
16. What predictions about “the future” are people making at this time? What does Samuel suggest about people and life
when he responds to these predictions with the statement, "There's a capacity for appetite that a whole heaven and earth of
cake can't satisfy"?
17. How does Lee explain to Sam his reasons for wearing his long braid and speaking pidgin? What does their
conversation reveal about the different experiences of different immigrants in America? What does Lee say about
“observation” versus “preconception”?
18. What “duty of a friend” does Sam want to perform for Adam but admits that he is too “false” to do it?
19. What does Cathy tell Adam that he fails to hear? Why doesn't he hear her?
20. Describe the memory which comes to Samuel’s mind when he thinks of Cathy’s eyes. Of what animal do her eyes
remind him? As a result of these thoughts, what does Sam resolve to do?
21. Describe the birth of Adam and Cathy’s sons. What attitudes does each of the four present characters display?
22. What is Cathy’s role in the family’s life after the twins are born? What is Adam’s role? Lee’s?
23. How does Samuel advise Adam, given the current circumstances?
24. How is Faye’s house different from the others in Salinas?
25. Why does Kate (Cathy) do so well here? Describe the evolution of her relationship with Faye, her “mother,” through
the end of Chapter 21.
26. Explain some of the points made in the conversation about Cain and Abel. Why do you think Lee says it is “the
symbol story of the human soul”? Make connections as best you can to characters/events in the story so far.
PART THREE:
27. Describe Tom Hamilton. What do his siblings ask him to do? In what ways is he similar to his father?
28. Samuel and Lee again discuss this Cain and Abel story, this time focusing on different translations of the story in
different versions of the Bible. What interpretation of the word timshel do they explore? How do they apply it to their
current circumstances?
29. What two events does Adam face in Chapter 26? Why do you think these events paired in the same chapter?
30. How does Adam and Kate’s relationship develop in this chapter? What does each character realize or learn? How has
power shifted by the end of the scene?
31. Begin to consider how the relationship between Aron and Cal parallels the relationship between Charles and Adam.
What deeper issues arise through the conversation about the rabbit?
32. How does each boy react to Abra’s arrival? What does this also reveal about their relationship with one another?
33. What does Adam tell his sons that prompts a warning and a story from Lee? Why do you think he tells Adam these
things now?
34. What changes does Adam make to his life now? What might each of these moves symbolize?
35. What “delicate moral problem,” as Lee calls it, is introduced by the response Adam receives to the letter he sent to
Charles? What does Lee think Adam will do to solve this problem, and why does he think this?
36. What do you think of Cal’s prayer? What leads him to ask for this? What do you think of what he tells Aron
immediately afterward?
37. Why do you think Adam insists that Kate take the money? Why do you think she resists?
38. Describe the relationship between Dessie and Tom. How do they impact each other’s lives through the end of Part
Three?
PART FOUR:
39. What does Steinbeck say is the “one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us”?
40. Describe how Aron and Abra’s relationship develops under the willow tree. What lasting effect does their
conversation have on Aron?
41. What news did Adam come across in a magazine article that inspires an idea for business?
42. How does Will Hamilton react to Adam’s idea? In what ways might Adam’s idea (and its outcomes) be seen as
symbolic?
43. From his earliest youth, what has been Cal's need and problem? How does it continue to impact him now? What
does he learn from his encounters with Rabbit Holman and, later that night, with Lee?
44. Describe the intimate conversations Cal has with his mother and father, respectively. How is he growing as a
person? What has he realized by the end of Chapter 39?
45. Kate does not feel threatened by Ethel’s blackmail; what does threaten Kate? What does she do about it?
46. How are Will Hamilton and Cal alike? Why does Will see Cal as “the son he should have had”?
47. What internal conflict(s) is Aron facing at this point in his life? How are his family members reacting?
48. What “white ghost” does Abra tell Lee about? Do you agree with her assessment?
49. How is Kate doing? What are her plans for dealing with Ethel, Aron, and Cal, respectively?
50. What gossip does Joe Valery learn from Alf Nichelson?
51. What gifts does Adam receive at Thanksgiving? Describe the plot events that unfold. Think again about Cain and
Abel, sin, and timshel.
52. Of what fictional character does Kate think the day after Aron’s visit? Why?
53. CHAPTER 51 – Reflect on the developments of this chapter. Explain 3 specific details in this chapter that you
think are helping to pull the book together.
54. After Aron’s departure, what effects does Abra begin to have on the other Trasks? Why does she stay around?
55. Why does Cal go to Abra the night of his father’s stroke? Why do they return to the house together to see Adam
and Lee, and what is the outcome?