Welcome to East of Eden, where life and death, good and evil, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and even the flora and fauna live at Biblical proportions.

In this episode, Rhea and Shari look closely at the opening two chapters for what it is showing us as it unfolds. They discuss the powerful living presence of the land, the repetition of words and ideas, the motifs of the east, parenting, light and darkness, life and death, plenty and waste. They talk about the strange nature of the narrator, sin and genetics, and the idea of timshel: “Thou mayest rule over sin.” And, they ask a couple really hard questions: Can a person have faith in someone and not love that person? Can a person be born evil to his or her core?

If you haven’t seen Rhea’s reading guide post for East of Eden, you can find it here:

Next week they will be discussing Chapters 9-15.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this post, please ❤️ it and share it!

The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, become a free or paid subscriber.

Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe