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Catherine Trask (Kate)
Cal Trask is the most obvious figure for the Biblical Cain in the novel: his father Adam loves his twin brother Aron best. Though his father hides Catherine’s identity from the boys, Cal eventually figures it out, and worries that her evil is reproduced in him. Over the course of the novel Cal struggles to learn that his fate—his decisions, his virtue, his goodness—is in his own hands. He succumbs to his more base impulses and reveals his mother’s identity to his brother. Aron (as Cal knew he would be) is distraught. Aron subsequently joins the army and is killed. At the same time, Cal falls in love with Abra, the girl Aron planned to marry, and she falls in love with Cal, believing her relationship with the “purely good” Aron is not at real as the one she shares with Cal. Cal is thus responsible for his brother’s death—but at the end of the novel, it is suggested that he is not beyond redemption. His father forgives him and blesses his marriage to Abra, and Cal knows he can choose to be good going forward.
Caleb “Cal” Trask Quotes in East of Eden
The East of Eden quotes below are all either spoken by Caleb “Cal” Trask or refer to Caleb “Cal” Trask. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 30
Quotes
“Dear Lord...let me be like Aron. Don’t make me mean. I don’t want to be…I don’t want to be mean. I don’t want to be lonely.”
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Chapter 38
Quotes
Where Aron was received, Cal was rebuffed for doing or saying exactly the same thing.
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“Of course you may have that in you. Everybody has. But you’ve got the other too.”
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Chapter 49
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“I send boys out…I sign my name and they go out. And some will die and some will lie helpless without arms and legs. Not one will come back untorn. Son, do you think I could take a profit on that?...I don’t want the money, Cal. And the lettuce—I don’t think I did that for a profit.”
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Chapter 53
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“He’s crammed full to the top with every good thing and every bad thing.”
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Caleb “Cal” Trask Quotes in East of Eden
The East of Eden quotes below are all either spoken by Caleb “Cal” Trask or refer to Caleb “Cal” Trask. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 30
Quotes
“Dear Lord...let me be like Aron. Don’t make me mean. I don’t want to be…I don’t want to be mean. I don’t want to be lonely.”
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Chapter 38
Quotes
Where Aron was received, Cal was rebuffed for doing or saying exactly the same thing.
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“Of course you may have that in you. Everybody has. But you’ve got the other too.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 49
Quotes
“I send boys out…I sign my name and they go out. And some will die and some will lie helpless without arms and legs. Not one will come back untorn. Son, do you think I could take a profit on that?...I don’t want the money, Cal. And the lettuce—I don’t think I did that for a profit.”
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Chapter 53
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“He’s crammed full to the top with every good thing and every bad thing.”
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