Interlude 1

Are books becoming obsolete?

I mean...why bother reading when there are so many technological gadgets and games around to keep our minds from actually thinking and experiencing the real world. In a way, what I am saying is a bit hypocritical, since I am writing this internet blog, but I am mostly referring to things like the iPhone and iPad. For me, it is still freeing to travel places and not have immediate access to my email or Facebook, and also exciting, as I look forward to seeing what I've missed. Before my fiance had his iPhone, we used to send each other cute little Facebook messages and I knew he would wake up to a message from me wishing him a great day. I can't do those things anymore because his phone is always on him, and I can't send him anything without it being received on the spot.

I'm afraid of all of this advancing technology, and not just because I've seen the Terminator movies. I'm afraid for my books! There is something so special about holding a book in my hands. I love the excitement that comes with opening a book for the first time, and the accomplishment that I feel when I turn the last page. I could (and have) spend hours at a bookstore or library, just looking at all the books, deciding on what story to get lost in. I have never paid for a book that I couldn't hold in my hands. Paying money to read a book on an iPad just boggles me, and makes me sad. And I have absolutely no desire to read a book on a phone.

Now, I'm not against technology. I love my laptop, and staying connected with people on Facebook. And I have definitely played addicting games on my fiance's iPhone. But I like being able to leave those things at home. And instead of burning brain cells for hours on end looking at a tiny phone screen and flinging birds at things...I pick up a book. And I can only hope that that will always be my first choice.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

East of Eden is an amazing story about life in similar forms, starting with one patriarch and ended two patriarchs later. This novel is said to be a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis. The stories of Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel are beautifully intertwined to the point where the men in the family seem to trade off being a “Cain” or an “Abel,” and with that comes the trading off of good and evil, showing that everyone has a little bit of both inside of them.

The Adam and Eve stories are definitely described in a modern way…in fact, the main women in the book are either evil themselves, or harsh, or too beautiful for their own good. Through the majority of the novel, the men were either marrying or giving birth to women who would end up living lives that were quite unfulfilled and unsatisfied, which I found pretty sad. Is this back to the concept that the sins of the world can be traced back to women, and then back to Eve? There are many people in the world today, over 50 years after this novel was written, that live in that same mindset.

The book really isn’t about women though, it is really about Adam and his life being a son, a brother, and then a father to two sons who seem to struggle with the same problems that Adam and his brother had. It was fascinating to read about how he didn’t like the way his father raised him and his brother, but he ended up turning into his father in many ways, and I’m not sure he ever fully realized that.

Anyway, my very favorite part of the book was the naming of Adam’s sons. Adam and two friends sat together for hours, discussing the philosophy and theology behind names. Worrying about what was going to be passed down through blood, how much of it was up to how they were brought up…the basic Nature vs. Nurture debate. An interesting quote from that discussion:

“I don’t very much believe in blood,” said Samuel. “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.”

“You can’t make a race horse of a pig.”

“No,” said Samuel, “but you can make a very fast pig.”

It is hard to really get into depth about the characters because I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone else that would want to read it. I will say that I highly recommend it, as it is very thought provoking and had me going back into the Book of Genesis and seeing it in a new light.