aphrodite’s Reviews > East of Eden > Status Update

I still don’t understand why Cal hates himself so much but I guess there doesn’t need to be a reason

“I hate her because I know why she went away. I know—because I’ve got her in me.”

OOF that hurt bitch

“When the first innocence goes, you can’t stop— unless you’re a hypocrite or a fool.”

“We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtues, is immortal.”

I can see how complex Lee as a racial character in classics is so contentious. definitely a case in which I wish I was in a classroom while reading this for sure

“I don’t very much believe in blood. I think when a man finds good or bad in his children he is seeing only what he planted in them after they cleared the womb.”

I’m so bored with this but then Steinbeck pulls some absolute bangers out that makes me forget how bored I am

there’s just so much detail about so much I don’t care about at all

oh florence is gonna EAT this role up

faye and “kate” are weird af

the casual racism in american classics is never not jarring to me