East of Eden

Where have I been? Seriously. How have I gone 28 years and not read this book? I'm in love with it! In high school and college I mainly stuck to British literature, but there is something about American literature that is so simple. Not better or worse, but it brings me down to earth in a way that the lovely Jane Austen never could.

Here is a prime example. Please enjoy the following passage taken from East of Eden. It is an exchange between two men who are farmers and friends. Samuel and Adam.

Samuel said softly, "I wonder you do not feel a shame at leaving that land fallow."
"I had no reason to plant it, " Adam said. "We had that out before. You thought I would change. I have not changed."
"Do you take pride in your hurt?" Samuel asked. "Does it make you seem large and tragic?"
"I don't know."
"Well think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience."
A slight anger came into Adam's voice. "Why do you come to lecture me? I'm glad you've come, but why do you dig into me?
"To see whether I can raise a little anger in you. I'm a nosy man. But there's all that fallow land, and here beside me is all that fallow man. It seems a waste. And I have a bad feeling about waste because I could never afford it. Is it a good feeling to let your life lie fallow?"
"What else could I do?"
"You could try again....I know that it might be better for you to come out from under your might have beens, into the winds of the world. And while I tell you, I am myself sifting my memories, the way men pan the dirt under a barroom floor for the bits of gold dust that fall between the cracks. It's small mining--small mining.You're too young a man to be panning memories, Adam. You should be getting yourself some new ones, so that the mining will be richer when you come to age."

Wow right? I especially like the farm analogy. I can't think how often I have been with my parents or grandparents and have heard them talk about a piece of land going to waste from poor management.
I have often seen men and women go to waste from poor management. I find the use of hurt as an excuse very interesting as well. I recently felt the victim of abuse from someone I had trusted. The annoying thing about being a victim is that you walk a thin line between being harmed and doing harm. You actually sometimes become the on who does the victimizing. Meanwhile all the good things around you that really deserve your attention get left uncultivated and eaten up by the weeds of neglect.
I guess the good news is that you can always pull out the weeds and start growing things again.

So much wisdom in farming...