Defending Steinbeck: Morality, Philosophy, and Sentimentality in East of Eden

John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden was published in 1952. Intended to be his magnum opus, the book received largely mixed reviews upon its release. The New York Times called it, “Clumsy in structure and defaced by excessive melodramatics and much cheap sensationalism,” and literary critic Arthur Mizener claimed that, with this novel, “[Steinbeck’s] insight and talent cease to work and he writes like the author of any third-rate best-seller.” Steinbeck’s literary reputation has long-suffered from reviews such as these, as well as from the accusation that he is a sentimentalist with a penchant for moralizing ethos which endows his work with ephemeral value. My thesis uses East of Eden to defend Steinbeck’s literary reputation. By analyzing Steinbeck’s exploration of the universal theme of good and evil, as well as his assertion that man may choose his own morality, I argue that East of Eden is representative of Steinbeck’s best work and his true capability as a writer. I also contest the accusation that East of Eden is an imperfectly structured novel with an inconsistent theme; I inspect the character of Cathy Ames Trask and through her, argue that Steinbeck’s structure for the novel is very intentional, and that his development of Cathy is not a contradictory element. Finally, my thesis evaluates the above-mentioned motifs to argue that sentimentality is not a detrimental quality to Steinbeck’s work, and that deep human emotion, such as is found in East of Eden, should be celebrated, not disregarded as manipulative or unnecessary

Poems

This thesis is a collection of poems I have written that, for one reason or another, I consider finished. I think the "workshop" vocabulary for talking about poetry is usually silly and imprecise, but when we are talking about the actual writing of poetry it is difficult to avoid it entirely, and in this furniture-making section of North Carolina it is somehow natural and fitting to speak of a poem as if it were something for the house, to be used and pushed around as needed. So, I can say, because the vocabulary is convenient, that some of the poems here are finished simply because I am through working on them, through fixing and repairing them and making them comfortable. Others are finished because they have been deliberately "polished." That is, the only division in the text separates the poems whose forms were especially important to me during the writing (the poems of section II) from those whose forms were not especially important to me during the writing. I know the difference is often indistinguishable to the reader. That is because for as long as I have been writing poems I have been conscious and respectful of their formal aspects, whether they are most evident in the complicated demands of a long-established verse pattern, or simply in the balanced arrangement of a poem on the page

Chiasma

Newspaper reporting on events at the Boston University School of Medicine in the 1960s

Hammer pieces

The idea which has resulted in the "Hammer Pieces" is basically simple. It is the contrast in volumes, line, and planar elements connected by various linkages, emphasizing the point of confrontation. The most important aspect, in this regard, is the point of connection between the two parts, or as it has been termed, confrontation. The forms are all solid cast and stable, with no moving parts, although this possibility of movement is suggested. The patterns of the pieces are generally alike in that there is a tail section which is connected to a major mass. This form is then linked to a broad dominant plane, which is the other volume in the piece. The point of confrontation is developed as if it were a moveable joint in some pieces, and as a penetrating shaft in others. Thus, the pieces suggest both crude tools and developed mechanical forms. The connection between the hammer and its action with the individual pieces is greatly abstracted. Each form suggests its own limited connection. In some the tail piece refers to the handle of some primitive tool, with the dominant plane being a head used as a hammering or cutting blade. In other forms the suggested moveable link reflects a simple machine action of a pounding hammer head or blade. The abstract idea of the hammer, the reference to crude forms, and the emphasis on the confrontation of the mass elements, all tend to develop a sense of connection between the pieces and primeval man. These sculptural forms suggest objects used by a primitive culture for survival or use in a pagan rite

RECEPTIVITY IN A NEW IMMIGRANT GATEWAY: IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT GEOGRAPHY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, AND IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Community receptivity expresses the degree of openness within a place to someone or something new. Receptivity is shaped by multiple components, institutions, and structures related to a community’s political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. Receptivity also encapsulates how immigrants perceive their reception in their new home. This mixed methods study explores how receptivity plays out in a new immigrant gateway (Charlotte, North Carolina) with a particular focus on its complexity and manifestations within the local public school system. Amid new forms of immigrant settlement geography and integration processes the city’s public school teachers and administrators must navigate their response to the growing number of immigrant students and families in their institutions. This research explores the extent to which various stakeholders in the process experience and negotiate these changes, how this is shaped by the context of Charlotte’s new gateway status, and advances the perspective that educational institutions play a particularly integral role in shaping a place’s receptivity. The research results offer the following contributions: First, receptivity, as a fluid, fickle, and malleable process, is likely distinctive in new immigrant gateways and different from that observed in traditional destinations with long-established immigrant communities. Second, the dynamism of a new gateway affects that place’s receptivity, with some places becoming either more or less receptive to such changes over time. Third, beyond the political and economic realms, a social and cultural institution such as a public school system can serve as a critical influencing factor of broader community receptivity especially in a new immigrant gateway. Whereas our thinking about receptivity is typically based on the experience of traditional or more established gateways, immigrant settlement in new destinations provides an opportunity to explore how receptivity is shaped and reshaped as the immigration landscape is emerging. In terms of receptivity, new gateways are at a crossroads. Their journey forward will include decisions that will lead to a direction that is either more or less open to immigrant newcomers. Schools and other community organizations have an opportunity to proactively influence the direction of receptivity in new immigrant gateways. This research illuminates that role in the case of Charlotte. Finally, as places with greater welcome and inclusiveness tend towards more efficient integration and stronger economic and societal resiliency, this study furthers the dialogue about how the warmth of receptivity contributes to an area’s degree of regional resilience. Ultimately, offering another thread of understanding to the tapestry of new urban geographies, this research shows that, among the intersections of increased immigration, service provision, community receptivity, and immigrant integration, public education institutions are presented with the challenge and the opportunity to be a vanguard of positive change in their communities. Through quantitative analysis, exploratory spatial data analysis, and systematic content analysis of qualitative interviews, this mixed methods study’s major theoretical contribution is that receptivity works differently in new immigrant gateways compared with traditional gateway destinations. Receptivity also occurs differently across geography at both the inter-urban and intra-urban scales. The short history and rapid growth of immigration in a place leads in part to a distinctive form of receptivity that occurs differently than that found in traditional immigrant gateways with longer histories of immigrant settlement, adjustment, and integration. Receptivity, therefore, is constructed in a new immigrant gateway by the various dimensions – political, economic, social, and cultural. Educational institutions, such as public schools, have the challenge and the opportunity to contribute to the construction of receptivity in their communities. Furthermore, while receptivity occurs differently in new immigrant gateways at the inter-urban level, receptivity may also occur distinctively at the intra-urban level across different communities within the same metropolitan area. The varying experiences of the three immigrant clusters in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County and the three case study schools each in one of the three clusters suggest that receptivity is playing out differently in each of those areas. At the same time, however, each area contributes to the city’s collective receptivity. With that in mind, teachers and administrators in a school are agents of change constructing receptivity for their school and surrounding community

Scientific sympathy and understanding in Mary Barton : and, Antifraternalism and biblical allusions in The Summoner’s tale

In Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton, readers are introduced to a society that operates on strict gender expectations that any given person needs to play within their social status. It is through the characters of Job Legh and Alice Wilson that a naturalist mindset is examined to be key in breaking social bias and building a bridge to overcome the social divide. Furthermore, Job Legh is hypothesized to be the key factor in accessing places of power that neither rich nor poor can get to because of their limited worldview. Through Job’s evolving role as a naturalist, as caretaker to his granddaughter, as mediator, and as an activist for the dissolution of the class divide, Gaskell highlights the importance of scientific sympathy as an alternative worldview. AND Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales presents readers with an assortment of stories that deal with moral issues. Within The Summoner’s Tale, Chaucer subvertly examines what would lead someone in the fourteenth century to have antifraternalist thoughts. Thomas’s loss of his child, his poverty, and his multiple visits to various friars all cause him to become a site of antifraternalism. Friar John’s hypocrisy, his greed, and his own refusal to acknowledge Thomas’s and his wife’s grief shows how he has become negligent in his duties as a leader of his religious community. Through the use of subversive themes, biblical allusions, and scatological gifts, I conclude that the corrupt friars created their own ruin by neglecting their congregation and being blinded by greed