The theme of rejection and love is seen through ​East of Eden.

​ Parental rejection plays a

big role in this story especially paternal rejection. Furthermore, this idea is explored when fathers
tend to favor one son over the other causing the other son to feel rejected and jealous.
Additionally, the idea of love is explored where Adam seeks a liking to Cathy and even goes
further to loving her. Love can exist without opening yourself up to vulnerability.
In part one, we can see the theme of rejection when Charles confronts Adam about his
talk with their father. Charles later tells Adam that he feels resent towards Adam. Charles feels
upset that their father valued Adam’s thoughtless gift over his meaningful gift. “​He liked
everything you brought him. He didn't like me. He didn't like anything You gave him.
Remember the present I gave him, the pocket knife? I cut and sold a load of wood to get that
knife. Well, he didn't even take it to Washington with him. It's right in his bureau right now. And
you gave him a pup. It didn't cost you a thing” (chapter 7) Here it is portrayed that Charles goes
through great lengths to please his father yet to be rejected. He feels angry and jealous and later
goes onto beat up Adam. The love Cyrus has for Adam is without opening himself up to
vulnerability, he is cold and strict and does not seem to love anyone else in his life. His love for
Adam is more based off of him wanting Adam to go to the military.
Furthermore, in Part 2, the theme of love is explored. Adam seeks a liking towards Cathy
when he takes care of her when she gets sick. He is so illusioned and has always sought a
maternal figure. He thinks Cathy is a beautiful and great girl. This can be seen in “A​dam did not
see Cathy at all, so lighted her eyes. Burned in his mind was an image of beauty and tenderness,
a sweet and holy girl, precious beyond thinking, clean and loving, and that image was Cathy to
her husband, and nothing Cathy did or said could warp Adam's Cathy” (chapter 13). Adam
thinks that he can have a future with Cathy instantly and is blinded by her beauty. He has built an
illusion of Cathy and doesn’t seem to see that she is evil and a manipulator. Cathy rejects him at
first then decides to marry him for the money. Here it is shown that Adam only started to love
Cathy based on her looks and never really opened himself up.
Additionally, in Part 3, the theme of love is being portrayed again when Adam confronts
Cal saying that Cal creates plans for his own motives and satisfaction without caring about
others. This is shown in the 30th chapter, “​A pain pierced Cal's heart. His planning suddenly
seemed mean and dirty to him. He knew that his brother had found him out. And he felt a
longing for Aron to love him. He felt lost and hungry and he didn't know what to do.” Cal has a
conflict between his evil side and his will and oftentimes finds himself confused between feeling
guilty and seeking revenge. Cal has always been seen as the disappointment and the
misunderstood son in his family, so he seeks for constant validation. He wants his brother Aron
to love him. He doesn’t open himself up to vulnerability in the sense that he tries to please Aron,
instead he transforms into feelings of hatred for Aron because everyone seems to like Aron more.
Finally in Part 4 the idea of love is further explored. Cal is shown a little bit of attention
from Adam, his father. Adam grew up in the family where Cyrus, his father had preferred him
over Charles. This pattern is followed in his family also, where he seems to favor Aron over Cal.
Cal feels “​The poison of loneliness and the gnawing envy of the unlonely had gone out of him,
and his person was clean and sweet, and he knew it was. He dredged up an old hatred to test
himself, and he found the hatred gone. He wanted to serve his father, to give him some great gift,
to perform some huge good task in honor of his father”(chapter 39), when his father shows him
that attention. He is constantly seeking validation and any ounce of attention has him craving for
more. Since he is always trying to get himself to live a moral life, he tries to open himself up a
bit but at the end tries to seek out revenge because his anger and jealousy get the best of him.
Rejection and love play a big role in this novel, where the by product seems to be
jealousy. Love can exist without opening one’s self to vulnerability because it closes off the
chances of being hurt or from loss. As seen in the novel, those that love blindly transfer their
tradition farther into their family line. The message of the book is that rejection and love go hand
in hand but one does not necessarily have to open up themselves to love.