In John Steinbeck"s novel East of Eden, one way that the author uses biblical imagery is through numerous people who represent various biblical characters. At times this is an effective device in the novel, and at times it is ineffective. Examples of this biblical imagery can be found throughout the book, whereas many new characters that are introduced continue the representation of a biblical archetype, or begin representing a new archetype.

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             Many pairs of characters represented the most important biblical archetype that emerged in the book. The representation began with the Charles and Adam Trask, two brothers who had opposite personalities, whereas Charles was evil and Adam was good. The brothers" parents, Cyrus and Alice Trask also supported this archetype with their very different character traits. Another pair of characters who contributed to the continuing development of the archetype was Adam and Cathy Trask. Adam was innocent and naive, while Cathy was manipulative and destructive. The Trask twins, Caleb and Aron, also featured two distinctly opposing personalities. Each one of these pairs contained one character that was evil and another that was good. Steinbeck portrayed the biblical archetype of Cain and Able, good versus evil, by creating these character pairs.

             One of the first characters introduced in East of Eden was a man named Samuel Hamilton. He and his wife moved to the Salinas Valley in California from Ireland. Samuel was a simple ingenious man who didn"t seem to care about money or personal property. He was always philosophizing about inventions, events and life. His philosophizing drew company from all the local men. During the novel Samuel befriended a man named Adam Trask. Adam was new to the Salinas and first contacted Samuel on business. Samuel was quick to win the friendship of Adam and Lee, Adam"s Chinese servant. Lee was also a wise man who had many of the same qualities as Samuel.