Cyrus, though Adam respects his authority, is never truly loved by Adam. His detached style of parenting is something Adam learns to accept but never enjoys, especially when applied to himself. Despite this, he rarely tries to involve himself with his own children more than is absolutely necessary. He has some reservations over how Cyrus treats Charles, then proceeds to treat Cal in a similar manner. Cyrus places many unreasonable and unlikeable expectation on Adam specifically, excluding Charles from any of his hopes and goals for his children. Charles, in spite of this, grows successful and oddly revered among the local community. Adam idolizes the achievements of Aron, though appears ignorants to the ambitions and accomplishments of Cal when others in Salinas can clearly see his work ethic and success.
Adam is often confused and sometimes angered about Cyrus and his agenda over his children's’ lives, though he keeps his thoughts to himself. The very separate and uninvolved manner in which his father used on him is unfortunately the only way he’s knows how to father and treat his own children. His actions are very clearly hypocritical when considering his opinions on the same actions when done by his own father. He has almost no choice but to be as his father is, because every time he tries to change, it ultimately fails and he reverts back to parenting in the way of his own father.
His hypocrisy directed at his own children, though without intention, perpetuates the similarities between him and Charles, and Aron and Cal. In chapter 49, Cal attempts to gift 15 thousand dollars to his father, money he had worked hard to raise. Adam denies the money, stating he would have to return “it to the farmers you [Cal] robbed” while doing his business (540), but accepts Aron’s simple “gift” of returning from college and making him proud. Adam, though he appears to not understand the similarities, mirrors the actions of Cyrus in respect to the gifts he’s given on his birthday, where Charles bought an expensive knife with his money and Adam unintentionally found a dog to bring home. Both subsequently lead to the large falling out between the two sets of brothers, where Charles attacks Adam and Cal takes Aron to meet their mother Kate as a form of mental and emotional punishment (30, 543), and problems that arise afterwards.
Hypocrisy as a general whole often cannot be avoided, especially in the case of Adam, who doesn’t seem to think deeply enough about his actions to notice where he takes after his own father. Adam proves to be very hypocritical towards his children and causes much repetition between his brother and his children’s situations. Decisions made by an individual despite his belief against them is a main cause of many overlapping circumstances between generations within the novel, causing history to repeat itself in similar fashions. Characters in East of Eden often have no control over their own hypocritical behavior because they cannot see the relevance between their actions and the actions of others towards them. Adam succumbs to the effects of allowing himself to behave hypocritically, causing his children to suffer through circumstances he himself disliked when places within them and never appears to see the relationship between them. Hypocrisy is often inevitable within one’s life, East of Eden simply highlights it by demonstrating how ignorant any one person can be towards his own actions and where they have stemmed from.
Adam is often confused and sometimes angered about Cyrus and his agenda over his children's’ lives, though he keeps his thoughts to himself. The very separate and uninvolved manner in which his father used on him is unfortunately the only way he’s knows how to father and treat his own children. His actions are very clearly hypocritical when considering his opinions on the same actions when done by his own father. He has almost no choice but to be as his father is, because every time he tries to change, it ultimately fails and he reverts back to parenting in the way of his own father.
His hypocrisy directed at his own children, though without intention, perpetuates the similarities between him and Charles, and Aron and Cal. In chapter 49, Cal attempts to gift 15 thousand dollars to his father, money he had worked hard to raise. Adam denies the money, stating he would have to return “it to the farmers you [Cal] robbed” while doing his business (540), but accepts Aron’s simple “gift” of returning from college and making him proud. Adam, though he appears to not understand the similarities, mirrors the actions of Cyrus in respect to the gifts he’s given on his birthday, where Charles bought an expensive knife with his money and Adam unintentionally found a dog to bring home. Both subsequently lead to the large falling out between the two sets of brothers, where Charles attacks Adam and Cal takes Aron to meet their mother Kate as a form of mental and emotional punishment (30, 543), and problems that arise afterwards.
Hypocrisy as a general whole often cannot be avoided, especially in the case of Adam, who doesn’t seem to think deeply enough about his actions to notice where he takes after his own father. Adam proves to be very hypocritical towards his children and causes much repetition between his brother and his children’s situations. Decisions made by an individual despite his belief against them is a main cause of many overlapping circumstances between generations within the novel, causing history to repeat itself in similar fashions. Characters in East of Eden often have no control over their own hypocritical behavior because they cannot see the relevance between their actions and the actions of others towards them. Adam succumbs to the effects of allowing himself to behave hypocritically, causing his children to suffer through circumstances he himself disliked when places within them and never appears to see the relationship between them. Hypocrisy is often inevitable within one’s life, East of Eden simply highlights it by demonstrating how ignorant any one person can be towards his own actions and where they have stemmed from.
