East of Eden: Steinbeck vs. Christ In the novel, East of Eden, John Steinbeck proposes the idea that man has much more control over his own destiny than many have chosen to do. believe – a conclusion reached by Steinbeck's interpretation of the story of Cain and Able in which God does not instruct Cain to master the sin that is lurking at his door, nor does he predict that Cain will master him, but rather gives Cain the ability to choose . Taking the text out of context, Steinbeck uses it to convey the message that a man's fate depends on himself and that the ability to choose to do right and wrong is as much a curse as a blessing. Steinbeck's interpretation is wrong. By taking the you may clause out of context, Steinbeck distorts the truth of free will and uses it to convey his own message: that a man, through his own free will, can shape and define his own destiny. By reading the text in context - both the story of Cain and Abel and the story of Christ, which is the Christian message accepted by the Bible as a whole - the message you might convey is very different in both meaning and gravity. context of the sentence tells the immediate meaning: "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it longs to have you, but [you can] master it." In context, the phrase you can is more than the blank check Steinbeck claims it to be; rather, it is a warning and an instruction. God gives Cain the warning that if he chooses not to act righteously, sin will overcome him; and at the same time offers hope and tells Cain that he can and, in context, should choose to master that sin. The biblical context of the story goes further, applying to life in general. As the entire Bible develops, the concept of free will is realized on a much larger scale than Steinbeck applied. All humanity is subject to the harassment of a sinful nature and a fallen world. "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks God." Therefore, instead of unaffected freedom to choose his own