Series: East of Eden
Episode: 1, “Brothers”
Based on: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Setting: Connecticut, Washington and the American South in the decades after the Civil War
Main characters: Adam Trask, Charles Trask, Cyrus Trask and Cathy Ames
Netflix’s East of Eden opens with seriously injured woman at the Trask farmhouse. The woman is badly beaten and bloodied. Adam wants to help her, while Charles insists that they should call the sheriff. Cathy narrates a reflection on monsters, conscience and evil hidden behind reassuring appearances. The episode then returns to the brothers’ childhood, which was made difficult by their father, whose favouritism damages their relationship and shapes their futures.
Growing up under Cyrus
Adam’s mother died when he was a baby. His father, Cyrus, remarries and has another son, Charles. The boys grow up under a rigid military regime, with Cyrus treating his sons not as children, but as soldiers in preparation for battle. Charles embraces the training, but Adam really struggles. When Charles tries to help him, Cyrus insists that a soldier must secure cover before assisting someone else.
The brothers’ affection for each other exists alongside a dangerous rivalry. Charles desperately wants their father’s approval, while Adam is given it without understanding why. On Cyrus’s birthday, Charles gives him a knife bought with money earned chopping wood. Adam gives him a puppy. Cyrus barely acknowledges the knife but delights in the dog, even taking it to bed. Charles is devastated.
The wrong futures
As they approach adulthood, Adam deliberately avoids killing animals when hunting, while Charles has dreams of joining the army. Yet Cyrus orders Adam into the cavalry and keeps Charles at home to manage the farm. Privately, he explains that military service would unleash something in Charles that needs restraining. He also tells Adam that he has always loved him more, presenting the punishment he inflicts as evidence of that love.
After a visit to a brothel, Charles demands to know what their father said. Adam conceals the declaration of love, offering a vague explanation about war stories. Charles accuses him of lying and admits that everything he does is an attempt to win a little affection. Adam tries to comfort him, but on their walk home Charles attacks Adam and gives him a very savage beating.
Adam leaves and returns
Military life places Adam in the violence he once avoided, including a cavalry attack on a Native American village. After five years, he goes to visit Cyrus in Washington. His father offers to arrange a government job for him, but Adam has already enlisted for another five years. He dislikes the army, yet returning allows him to refuse Cyrus’s plans. Asked whether this is defiance, he confirms that it is.
After leaving the army, Adam wanders through the country, facing the threat of arrest under Georgia’s vagrancy laws. He hears stories in which California is described as a place of extraordinary abundance. A fellow traveller encourages him to reconsider going home, suggesting that people can change.
Meanwhile, Charles’s mother, Alice, dies. Alone, Charles writes to Adam, acknowledging that his anger may have kept him away and expressing his loneliness. Adam never receives the letter, but eventually returns. Charles has expanded the farm, although the house looks neglected. He has got a scar which is the result of a plough accident. He offers Adam their mother’s old room, then reveals that Cyrus has also died.
A fortune and a stranger
Cyrus’s official army records contradict his celebrated war stories: he served only a few months in 1862 and could not have fought in the later battles he claimed to remember. Charles believes their father built his reputation on lies; Adam doesn’t want to believe it.
Cyrus has also left them more than $100,000, to be divided equally. Charles suspects that he stole the money and questions how a modest salary could have produced such wealth, while Adam suggests investments. Adam sees freedom in the inheritance: they could sell the farm and begin again in California. Before they manage to resolve anything, Cathy arrives. Adam tends to her injuries despite Charles’s objections. Her closing narration imagines shrinking beyond anyone’s ability to hurt or imprison her, yet insists she will not disappear.
Historical and literary details
The Grand Army of the Republic, whose representative visits Cyrus, was a real organisation for Union veterans, founded in Illinois in 1866. Source: Library of Congress.
Published in 1952, East of Eden incorporates Steinbeck’s family history. He wrote it partly to help his sons understand that history and his Salinas Valley childhood. Source: Steinbeck in the Schools.
Where to watch
East of Eden is streaming on Netflix.
Next Article: East of Eden Episode 2 recap
