Students
Teachers & SchoolsStudents
Teachers & SchoolsSex
Steinbeck is all about stripping away taboos when it comes to talking about s-e-x. None of that oh-my-gosh-an-ankle stuffiness of the past here, folks; nope—think of him as the Salt-n-Pepa of the 1950s. But all the talk about sex and whores (so many whores) isn't just for cheap thrills—it's really important to the plot in East of Eden, too. After all, Cathy is the one who actually acknowledges how sex affects people, while everyone else around her twiddles their thumbs and plays innocent. And Aron's refusal to get anywhere near the subject of sex means that he's in for the shock of his life when he can't bury his head in the sand anymore.
The novel argues that because society doesn't acknowledge sex, people like Cathy are able to use it for manipulation.
Prostitution—whether it's the prostitutes themselves, the whoremasters, or the brothels—is an essential aspect of East of Eden.