Three Quotes from East of Eden

There are monstrous changes taking place in the world, forces shaping a future whose face we do not know. Some of these forces seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency is to eliminate other things we hold good.

Monstrous changes indeed, and that is where we are now. Monstrous changes are being forced upon us, and in this case, in our time, they don't just seem evil, they are evil. And yes, the things we hold good are being shoved aside, by a corrupt and lawless administration, by a lazy, clueless, hate-filled electorate, and more and more commonly by an armed and unrestrained military style force. 

But harkening back to an earlier post, it seems that monstrous changes have always been upon us. In this passage from East of Eden, Steinbeck is talking about the turn of the last century, the atmosphere in the early 1900s, but he published this novel in 1952 and I'm certain that, as is peculiar to all great novelists, he was talking about his own time as well; moreover, as is part of Steinbeck's point throughout the novel, and in fact extending back to biblical times, he was looking ahead to times beyond his own life span. Our times. 

But some men are friends with the whole world in their hearts, and there are others that hate themselves and spread their hatred around like butter on hot bread.

There are others, yes, and there always have been. Perhaps it is as Steinbeck says, that this is first of all a self-hatred, and then is translated outward to a hatred of a certain people, people of a different color or nationality or culture. They hate because they are weak and insecure and greedy and ignorant, and boy does that hatred spread like hot butter when allowed to spill. We have powerful people among us now who call such hatred good and right and reasonable. And so God help us all. 

Perhaps Adam did not see Cathy at all, so lighted was she by his eyes. Burned in his mind was an image of beauty and tenderness, a sweet and holy girl, precious beyond thinking, clean and loving, and that image was Cathy to her husband, and nothing Cathy did or said could warp Adam's Cathy.

Totally unrelated to the first two quotes, but definitely a deja vu moment to me. I worshiped a woman once, put her on a pedestal, and kept her there through unshakable faith in my own delusions. Nothing she did or said could warp my vision. I would not allow it. All things that did not fit with my fantasy were counted as anomalies, not really who she was or meant to be. Misunderstandings. My vision was good, lovely, lasting, true. But ultimately, it simply had nothing to do with who she was. She was my invention and lived only in my mind. And in my heart, yes. Very much so in my heart.