East of Eden: The Miniseries, Part 3/Final
For Part One, this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-one.html
For Part Two, this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-two_25.html
Adam tells Lee they are moving to the town of Salinas, also in the northern Salinas Valley, where they have been living on the farm since Adam bought the land there. Salinas is less than 20 miles from Monterey, the town where Cathy (Kate) is living. In spite of Cathy's statement about Adam not being the father of the boys, Adam says the paternity question doesn't matter, and he vows to raise Aron and Caleb anyway, although he had thought of going back to Connecticut to see Charles face to face to ask him about Cathy's claim. Adam apologizes to Lee for having been abrupt with him when Lee warned him not to go into Monterey to see Cathy. We see the young boys as the family moves into Salinas, then the scene quickly moves to the boys in their mid teens or so, and Aron has a steady girlfriend named Abra. Caleb, known more commonly to people as "Cal," is a lively young man with a sense of humor and teasing, something not always appreciated by Aron, who is more serious, and who has turned toward religion in his life. In fact, Aron plans on going into the ministry. When Cal teases Abra about the possibility of her becoming a member of the family, he tells her the family has ties to mental derangement going back to their grandmother, "who drowned herself in the middle of the night in her 'go to meetin' dress, ' " to which Aron immediately says, "It was an accident, Cal." When Cal then mentions their mother, Aron quickly repeats what his father has told them, "Our mother's dead, she's buried back east," but Cal just as quickly says, "That's what everybody says... 'most' everybody," with the obvious implication that Cal has heard rumors about their mother that don't fit with Adam's story.
We learn Cal sneaks out of the house some nights. One night he goes out and he sees Samuel Hamilton's son, Tom, who mentions that he was on the Trask property the day Aron and Cal were born. While Cal had been reluctant to get into a conversation with Tom, now he's interested, and he hopes to get some information out of Tom about his mother. Tom has a bottle of whiskey and Cal manipulates the increasingly intoxicated Tom into telling him how Adam got the wound scar on his shoulder from Cathy having shot him. He also lets it out that Cathy is still alive, so Cal tries to get it out of Tom where his mother lives, and Cal mentions Connecticut, but all Tom will say is, "Wrong... wrong." We then learn that Tom's brother, Will, owns an automobile business there, and automobiles are becoming an increasingly popular means of transportation. Cal and Tom stand in front of Will's business, and finally Tom mentions about going to "Kate's." Pretty well drunk, Tom lets it slip out that Cathy is a whore.
Cal begins to follow his mother, who wears dark clothes and a veil. One day he tests the waters with Adam as they all sit at home. Cal "claims" that Aron is in on the idea too, but that with Mother's Day approaching, he proposes sending a wreath to be placed on their mother's grave. Adam is taken by surprise and tries to divert the conversation by saying that a wreath is too fragile to survive a long journey, but Cal shows his father a magazine article about refrigeration and the practice of using ice to preserve perishable items. Adam says he'll think things over, but Cal pushes the subject, which brings Aron's temper to flare. Something tells us that Aron doesn't quite buy Adam's story about their mother, but he'd just as soon not think about it, perhaps because he doesn't really want to know, as to learn the truth could bring a potential unpleasantness about his mother, but it also would prove that his father is a liar. We hear Aron tell Abra about his parents, based on Adam's story, and the story is comforting to Aron, but it's just that, a story. What if Aron is confronted with truth?
Meanwhile, Cal's idea about using ice to send a wreath has caught Adam's attention about refrigeration, and he takes home a stack of books from the library on the subject. Adam buys an icebox and he begins to place dishes filled with various food items into the icebox to see how long, and how well, they will keep.* One day when Lee opens the icebox, he slams to door shut because of the stench of spoiled food, but Adam continues his experiments. (This will soon become important)
Aron takes more serious steps toward pursuing a life in the ministry. After a service at the local Episcopal church, the funny moment of the miniseries takes place, as Cal's sense of humor takes center stage when he tells some neighbors (seemingly Abra's parents) who had questioned the religious commitment of the Trask family, "We Trasks have always walked in the way of the Lord. My maternal grandfather was a missionary in Africa. He got eaten up by Pygmy cannibals. They bit him off at the knees, he just fell to the ground and they gobbled him up like vanilla pudding." Adam looks for some way to stop the foolishness, as the questioner is taking the story very seriously. Adam finally interrupts to go talk with Will Hamilton, and he glares at Cal as he passes him.
Adam and Cal go to meet with Will Hamilton to hear what he thinks of their idea to use ice to ship lettuce from Salinas Valley farmers to the eastern part of the country. Will comes out against the idea, but, while he's at Will automobile showroom, Adam decides to by a motor vehicle. Will tells him he'll put him on a waiting list, because he can't get enough automobiles to keep up with demand. As Adam and Cal prepare to leave in their buggy, Will tells them that instead of lettuce, they should get involved in beans. Will explains that with the war going on in Europe (what will eventually initially be called, the Great War, and then later, World War One), that there is a developing need for foods that can be kept without ice and that the price of beans has been rising. Will says further that once the U.S. enters the war, which he feels is inevitable, the price of beans will skyrocket. Idealistic Adam questions about taking advantage of people in wartime to make a profit. Adam and Cal drive off, but Adam tells Cal he's going to buy the town's ice plant, which he does, and he decides to go ahead with his idea about the lettuce, which is packed into crates and loaded onto boxcars with ice to be shipped eastward. At first things go well, but the sun beats down on the boxcars and the ice continues to melt. Then the shipment gets left to the side when it reaches Chicago, only to be discovered when the smell of the spoiled lettuce is unbearable. Adam takes a major loss to the money that had kept him, his sons and Lee all living well for so long..... The money left to him by his father, who had pilfered it from Civil War veterans. Simultaneously, Will brings Adam's new car, which will require the balance to be paid (he'd given a 25% deposit initially). Lee thinks Adam should cancel the car purchase to conserve the money, but Adam says the deposit was "like a promise," and that he plans to honor it, so Lee asks, "What do you want for supper, roast pig or roast pride?"
Cal continues to go out at night, but now he secretly drives the car into Monterey and he goes to Kate's, where a group of college boys are partying. Cal acts like he's one of them and he goes inside. He goes up the stairway unnoticed to the next floor, with its dimly lit hallway. Suddenly he hears a voice say, "What do you want?" He turns around and it's a woman. When he asks if she's Kate, she answers, "Who do you suppose I am, Mother Goose?" She asks who he is, but just then police whistles sound, and she tells him to leave. It's a police raid and Cal is arrested with the others. In a bit of a funny scene, the sheriff (the same sheriff from years before) asks each college boy his name, and the names roll in as "John Smith," "Rick Smith," "Tom Smith," etc, bringing the sheriff to say that "we've rounded up every Smith in town tonight" (ah, I'll leave that statement alone). When the sheriff comes to Cal, Cal blurts out, "Woodrow Wilson," bringing the sheriff to say, "The president of the United States caught in whorehouse raid. How do you suppose the press would treat a thing like that?" Cal answers, "They won't know if you don't tell them." Cal is released and goes home to a totally quiet Adam. This is a key scene in the story. Cal assumes he'll be punished, but Adam begins talking with him, eventually saying, "I'm as bad a father was my father was." Cal tells him that he and Aron don't feel Adam is a bad father, but he asks Cal, "How would you know, you've never had any other kind?" The two talk and Cal tells his father he didn't do anything wrong, but that just being there was wrong. This brings Adam to question Cal's statement, and he tells his son the story of how he got arrested for vagrancy after getting out of the army, and how he spent a year on a chain gang in Florida. He says it was for "just being there." Cal now has a connection with his father and he is really happy. As he reheats the coffee for his father, the two talk more, and Adam asks about how Cal views his brother. Cal tells him that Aron is different from him, and he goes on to say all sorts of good things about Aron. Adam asks Cal if he loves his brother and he says he does, but that he tricks Aron at times, and cheats him, and he occasionally hurts him without any reason. Adam sits gently nodding in agreement. Then Cal says, "Sometimes...," but Adam finishes Cal's thought, "Sometimes you hate him," to which Cal agrees, but he asks how his father knew that. Adam tells him that he grew up with a brother. Just then the coffee boils over and the two of them rise together to wipe up the hot coffee from the stove. Cal is bursting with happiness at the closeness to his father. He's so happy and excited he unthinkingly blurts out, "I don't hate my brother now, I don't think I ever will again. I don't think I'll ever hate anybody, not even my mother." Cal catches what he said, but it's too late. Silence descends briefly. Adam asks if Cal knows about his mother and Cal tells him he knows everything. Adam asks if Aron knows about her, but Cal quickly and firmly says that he doesn't know about her. Adam asks why he said it that way about Aron, and Cal tells him he wouldn't want to tell his brother, because, "I don't think he could stand it. I don't think he has enough badness in him." Adam asks, "But you do?" Cal tells his father he's been to Kate's, "I had to know." Adam wonders how Aron would react if someone told him about his mother, and Cal tells him he would likely lash out at the person and say it was a lie. Cal then tells his father that he should send Aron away to college where there is no danger of his finding out about his mother. This prompts Adam to ask Cal if he plans to go to college and Cal shakes his head negatively. Then, reminiscent of Charles and Adam upon Adam's return home from the army, Adam gives Cal a loving embrace in a touching moment. Cal goes out the front door as Adam and Lee follow him out onto the porch. Cal is happy and he dashes up the street. Adam tells Lee, "He knows about his mother." Lee replies, "It didn't seem to have hurt his disposition much."
Cal goes to see Will Hamilton. He tells Will he wants to make a lot of money to give to his father to make up for the lost money from the lettuce. We now get a deeper look into Will, who asks Cal if he will honestly answer a question before they go any further. Cal answers, "I don't know," which impresses the conservative businessman Will, who says, "I like that. How do you know until you've heard the question? That's honest AND it's smart." Will asks Cal if Adam likes Aron better than him, which brings Cal to ask Will if he's asking because Samuel liked Will's brothers better than him. It ruffles Will's feathers for a moment, but then he asks Cal if giving Adam the money is a way of Cal trying to buy his father's love. Cal tells him it's true. Will has heard truth. He has Cal go with him to the Trask farm that has been leased to a farmer since the Trasks moved out. Will goes back to his idea about beans, explaining that beans are currently priced at 3 cents a pound (remember, this was in about 1916 money values). He says they could offer the farmer and others 5 cents a pound, but that the price on the market will jump far past that amount as the war continues, and especially when the United States enters the war. Will tells Cal that the only problem is, Cal doesn't have any money to invest in the deal, but Cal says he can get the money. Later Cal goes to Lee and asks to borrow $5000 for a business venture. Lee hesitates only momentarily, bringing Cal to say if Lee won't lend him the money, he'll ask someone else for it... his mother. Lee agrees to the loan, saying that he believes Cal will repay him.
Cal continues to follow his mother, who is still always dressed in black and with a black veil. One day she turns and questions who he is. He tells her, "You're my mother. I just wanted to see what you looked like." This prompts Kate to move closer to get a better look at Cal. She tells him to come with her and the two go inside. Kate takes Cal to her room, but she then opens the door leading to another small, darkened room, where even the walls are darkly painted. It looks more like an animal's den, than a room for most humans. She very carefully removes her gloves and shows Cal her twisted hands, twisted with arthritis, and she tells him that he likely will get it too, that it ran in her family. (Remember, the basic story is about the things we inherit from our parents, who inherited things from their parents, and so on. There are a number of references to such things throughout the miniseries, but I've not covered each one. The question remains, how much, and just what exactly, can we control of the things we inherit?) Cal is curious, but obviously he is not taken with this place, and his mother asks asks, "What's the matter, don't you like my room?" She tells him, "The light outside hurts my eyes, I come in here to rest." Kate asks about her other son, and Cal says that Aron looks more like her. This brings the question from their mother, "Is he like me?" When Cal tells her that Aron wants to be a minister, Kate give a sort of sinister smile and says, "Hm, looks like me and wants to go into the church. Slick way to turn a buck." Cal defends his brother and says Aron is serious about church work. Kate now tells Cal she can see that he is smarter than Aron, but she adds, that he tricks him and hurts him at every chance. Cal asks why she would think these things, and Kate answers, "Because you have me in you." But Cal says, "I don't. I don't even know you." He asks Kate why she shot his father, but she avoids the question by asking, "You're fond of him, aren't you?" Cal answers, "I love him." He then returns to his question of Kate, who yells, "Because he tried to stop me." Kate gives her view that Adam took care of her when she was badly injured, only so he could have her as, "his own free whore." She then returns to how Cal is like her, but he strikes back, "The light outside doesn't hurt your eyes. You come in here because you're afraid. I don't hate you, but I'm glad you're afraid." Kate orders him out. In the next scene we see Kate sitting off to the side in the church where Aron is conducting part of the service. Then she later waits to see Cal while sitting in her carriage. She tells Cal she doesn't want Aron to know about her. (Just another point: Remember the discussion of the Cain and Abel story and Lee's comments that God protected Cain, even though he was a murderer, because God must have seen some good in Cain.)
Church bells sound and Lee holds up the newspaper for Adam to see. The headline reads: "U.S. Declares War On Germany." Lee tells Adam there is a war rally planned for the school gymnasium. Adam goes to the closet to get his coat and he sees an old picture of his father. He says, "Wouldn't you be happy to see this day," Adam says to the picture. Adam once told Aron's minister, "My father prayed directly to the god of war." Adam tells Lee that Cyrus was a thief, that he stole from Union veterans of the Civil War. Meanwhile at the gymnasium, the rally has started and Will tells Cal the price of beans is now 10 cents a pound and climbing. Aron gets Abra and says he needs to talk with her. When Adam arrives there, Will tells him he wants Adam to serve on the draft board, a thought that repels Adam, but Will demands it, trying to shame Adam with "it's your duty." Aron gets Abra off to the side and tells her that he's made a decision to live a life of purity and to remain abstinent. Abra is brokenhearted and she tells Aron how she's planned to marry him and have his children. When Aron tells her it will be difficult for both of them, she corrects him, saying, "I don't think it will be difficult for you at all. I think you're scared to death of sex." Adam admonishes her for such a statement.
Abra later tells Cal what Aron said and the two of them talk about Aron, Reverend Mr. Rolf (Aron's very pious minister) and, in a roundabout way, about religion. Abra half says and half asks Cal if it can be bad if two people who love one another want to be "close." Cal shakes his head to say, "no, it can't," and he follows it with his thoughts about Aron's minister, "who doesn't even go to the bathroom," that he is just an empty religious outfit with arms and legs sticking out. Abra asks if Aron knows about his mother and Cal answers that he feels that part of Aron knows, but that part of him doesn't want to know; that it would be too difficult to deal with the fact that she just up and left him. When Abra says that he, Cal, had gotten over it, Cal explains that he and Aron aren't true twins; that they come from separate eggs. Cal tells Abra that their mother must have been very beautiful and that Aron looks a lot like her, and he then suggests, "Maybe that's why my father always loved Aron best, because he reminded him of her." While Abra suggests that she would like to spend time with Cal, Cal discourages it, telling her to stick with Aron. When Cal walks Abra home, Aron is secretly watching them and he later confronts Cal at home. Cal tells him they had simply been talking about him, Aron, and that Abra loves him, but that she doesn't understand his ways, and that she would sleep with him, if he'd just ask her. This causes Aron to tell Cal that such a statement could cause his "soul to go spinning off to hell. The Lord takes note, Cal." This prompts Cal to tell Aron that he's not achieving much in his abstinence pledge, because he doesn't even know what he's giving up. When Aron asks where Cal gets his rottenness, Cal asks, "Do you really want to know?" Perhaps sensing more to come, Aron ducks into his room and closes the door. Aron goes off to Stanford for college.
One day Cal comes running home. He gives Lee his money back, with interest, something Lee says he doesn't want, but Cal tells him he may want to borrow the money again. Aron is coming home for Thanksgiving and a big celebration is planned. Cal tells Lee to order champagne, because he wants everything to be perfect for the party, as he has a present for his father. Lee jokingly says, "An offering? Not the fruit of the ground, I trust?" a statement not understood by Cal, but Lee tells him to forget about it anyway, that it was a poor joke. Aron returns home, but he confides to Cal that he's dissatisfied with college and he's seriously thinking of not going back, that he might just want to run the farm (where he and Cal had been born) with Abra. Cal fears that news like this will ruin the party and upset his plans to give Adam the money he's made from the beans. So he asks Aron to hold off on any announcement, but he doesn't tell Aron why. It doesn't seem to matter, as once they are all seated around the table (Abra is there too), Aron starts telling stories about his life in college and how he and some of the guys go out for "a couple of beers... okay... sometimes MORE than a couple." Everyone laughs, and Adam says, "I expect I did worse things when I was your age," and he looks over at Cal and winks, as Cal knows about his father's arrest all of those years ago. Everyone is happy and Adam offers a toast, with the champagne Cal bought, to, "the best thanksgiving we've ever had." Cal reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a small flimsy package wrapped in white paper and tied with some ribbon. He slides it over to his father, who asks what it is. Cal simply says, "It's a present for you." Lee smiles broadly as everyone waits in anticipation for Adam to open it. When he opens the wrapping paper, there are thousand dollar bills staring up at Adam, who suddenly turns serious. Cal says, "I made it to give to you to make up for losing the lettuce." Adam asks how Cal made the money, who explains briefly that he and Will Hamilton made it on beans. That they paid over market price to the farmers, but then when the price jumped, they made lots of money, and he tells Adam there is $15,000 there. Adam firmly says, "You'll have to give it back." The tension builds as Adam explains that he has to sign off on young men going into the army every day at the Draft Board, and that many will be killed or wounded. He asks Cal, "Do you think I could take a profit from that?" Cal tries to salvage it all by saying, "I'll keep it for you," but Adam firmly pushes Cal's hand away and tells him, "I won't ever want it." The others sit silently, and Lee looks on gloomily as he sees the terrible replication of the biblical tale right in front of him. And now the final touch, as Adam tells Cal he could have given him something other than money, like what Aron had given him, "pride in his work and gladness in his progress." (Remember, this isn't true, as Aron wants to leave college.) Cal pushes his chair away from the table and runs from the room with Adam yelling, "Don't be angry with me, son."
Later, Lee takes coffee to Cal in his room. As Cal mentions his mother and about her being part of him, Lee gets angry and tries to get through to Cal, finally telling him, "Timshel... thou mayest triumph over sin... From here on, whatever you do, it's not your father and it's not your mother; it's YOU! You do have a choice." Cal goes outside and awaits Aron's return from walking Abra home. When Aron comes along, Cal tells him he wants to show him something, and they take the car and Cal drives to Kate's. They go inside and Cal leads Aron to the upstairs and then into Kate's room. He opens the door to Kate's special dimly lit room and there she sits. Cal tells her he wants to introduce her son to her, Aron. Cal grabs Aron and pushes him toward Kate saying, "Say hello to your mother!" Aron repeats over and over, "No, no..." He stands and runs out, pushing Cal out of the way like a madman. As Cal pursues him, Aron grabs Cal and throws him down the stairway while still screaming, "No, no!"
Cal buys a bottle of whiskey and gets drunk. He doesn't return home until daylight. He passes Lee and starts up the stairway, only to have Adam call out and tell him, "You smell like a bar rag." Adam tells him Aron hasn't been home all night either and he asks if he knows where he is. Cal answers sharply, "No, am I supposed to look after him?" Cal goes to his room and Adam goes out to see if he can find out any news of Aron. Lee smells smoke coming from Cal's room and charges in. He finds Cal burning the fifteen $1000 bills. Cal asks Lee if he knows what he did, to which Lee replies that he can guess. Lee asks Cal if burning the money makes him feel better, but Cal says, "Not much." Cal says he doesn't know why he did it, and Lee says, "Because your father hurt your feelings, because your mother is a whore, or because you are just plain mean. Take your choice." Cal tells Lee he needs him to help him, that he doesn't want to do mean things. Adam can be heard coming into the house and when Lee goes to see if he has news of Aron, Adam is somewhat disoriented, but he has a telegram in his coat pocket from Aron. Lee reads it aloud, as Cal stays on the stairway, unseen by the two of them. Aron says he's joined the army.
Some time passes and Cal gets Abra and takes her in the car into the mountains for flowers, then along the Pacific coast. We learn that Aron's army unit has been sent to France. As they sit by the ocean, Cal talks about Aron and Abra getting married, but Abra says, "I don't love Aron." She goes on to explain to Cal that she and Aron had a story in their minds, from their childhood days, about their lives together, but when they grew up, for her, the story wasn't true anymore, but that Aron stuck to the story, because he wanted to know how it comes out. She theorizes that this is why Aron didn't want to know about his mother, because that's not how he wanted the story to be. Cal asks Abra about her own story and she answers, "I don't want to know how it comes out, I just want to be there while it's going on." Abra tells Cal she thinks she loves him, and finally they kiss.
At home, the doorbell rings and Lee goes to answer it. When he gets there, he finds a telegram has been slipped under the door. He looks at the envelope on the floor with dread, and Adam comes out, wanting to know who rang the bell. Lee hands a now shaken Adam the envelope. A little while later Cal and Abra come into the house with the flowers. Lee is sitting on the sofa with his eyes looking toward the floor. Cal asks what has happened and Lee tells the two of them that Aron is dead and that Adam has had a stroke. The doctor can't give a solid prognosis and he tells them he's not sure if the sight in Adam's right eye has been affected or even if he'll recognize anyone. Cal, Lee and Abra enter the room where Adam is partially propped up with pillows. Cal goes to the bedside and and says, "Father?" But he's uncertain if Adam knows who he is. Cal goes on and says that he's responsible for Aron's death, because he took him to Kate's and showed him his mother. He also takes responsibility for Adam's condition. Adam shifts his left eye toward Cal, then he barely opens his right eye. Cal stands and leaves the bedside. He tells Lee that his father now knows he killed his brother, that's he's a murderer. Lee tells Cal that they can't be certain what Adam thinks. Cal believes Adam's eyes told him he accused him of his brother's death, but Lee is not so sure. Cal leaves and Lee has Abra go after him. Cal tells Abra, that he killed his brother and is responsible for his father being paralyzed. He says, "My mother's a whore... I've got her blood, doesn't that mean anything to you?" Abra says, "No." Cal says he doesn't know where to hide, because his father's eyes told him that he killed his brother. Abra takes Cal's hand and tells him they're going back to his father. The nurse tells them he's awake. Lee, who has been a partial mother and father to Cal his entire life takes Cal's hand to lead him into his father's room. Abra follows. Lee kneels by the bedside and tells Adam to try to understand everything he will say. He tells Adam that Cal did something in anger that resulted in his brother's death, because he thought Adam had rejected him. "Your son is marked by guilt, almost more than he can bear. Don't leave him with his guilt. Give him your blessing. Help him. Give him his chance." Adam struggles, but he moves his left hand toward Cal. Lee thanks Adam and Cal replaces Lee next to his father. Lee asks Adam to form Cal's name with his lips to try to say his name. Adam says, "Timshel."
* When I was a kid, the term "icebox" was still around, although it had been transferred over to electrical refrigerators from the previous true iceboxes, which were not operated by electricity, but were really insulated closets that used ice, typically blocks of ice, to keep things cold. My maternal grandmother never used the term "refrigerator," it was an "icebox."
Photo is from the Acorn Media 2009 DVD set, Volume 3
WORD HISTORY:
Boil (noun for lump/swelling)-English has more than one word of this spelling, although they are related through Indo European. This is the noun for, "sore lump or swelling on the skin." It goes back to Indo European "bhel," which had the notion, "to swell, to bulge, to bloat out." This gave either Old Germanic or West Germanic "bulion" (long "u" sound), which meant "swelling, bump, lump, carbuncle." This gave Old English "byl/byle," with the same meaning. Later the spelling changed to "bile" (likely pronounced as if, "byle-eh"), before acquiring the modern spelling and pronunciation, which may have developed by influence of the verb "boil," meaning to heat water or other liquid to bubbling. The other Germanic languages have: German has "Beule" (pronounced as if, "boy-leh"), Low German Saxon "Buul," West Frisian "bûl" (?), Dutch "buil." Whether the word was developed in West Germanic (which includes English) or in Old Germanic, the ancestor of West Germanic, East Germanic and North Germanic, is a question I still have, as Danish seems to have "bule" for "a bump," and Swedish has "bula," with the same meaning, but it "could" be that these words were borrowings from a West Germanic relative (perhaps Low German, Frisian or English? The Danes and the Swedes had lots of contact with speakers of these languages) as I could find no similar word in Old Norse, the forerunner of the modern North Germanic languages.
For Part Two, this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-two_25.html
Adam tells Lee they are moving to the town of Salinas, also in the northern Salinas Valley, where they have been living on the farm since Adam bought the land there. Salinas is less than 20 miles from Monterey, the town where Cathy (Kate) is living. In spite of Cathy's statement about Adam not being the father of the boys, Adam says the paternity question doesn't matter, and he vows to raise Aron and Caleb anyway, although he had thought of going back to Connecticut to see Charles face to face to ask him about Cathy's claim. Adam apologizes to Lee for having been abrupt with him when Lee warned him not to go into Monterey to see Cathy. We see the young boys as the family moves into Salinas, then the scene quickly moves to the boys in their mid teens or so, and Aron has a steady girlfriend named Abra. Caleb, known more commonly to people as "Cal," is a lively young man with a sense of humor and teasing, something not always appreciated by Aron, who is more serious, and who has turned toward religion in his life. In fact, Aron plans on going into the ministry. When Cal teases Abra about the possibility of her becoming a member of the family, he tells her the family has ties to mental derangement going back to their grandmother, "who drowned herself in the middle of the night in her 'go to meetin' dress, ' " to which Aron immediately says, "It was an accident, Cal." When Cal then mentions their mother, Aron quickly repeats what his father has told them, "Our mother's dead, she's buried back east," but Cal just as quickly says, "That's what everybody says... 'most' everybody," with the obvious implication that Cal has heard rumors about their mother that don't fit with Adam's story.
We learn Cal sneaks out of the house some nights. One night he goes out and he sees Samuel Hamilton's son, Tom, who mentions that he was on the Trask property the day Aron and Cal were born. While Cal had been reluctant to get into a conversation with Tom, now he's interested, and he hopes to get some information out of Tom about his mother. Tom has a bottle of whiskey and Cal manipulates the increasingly intoxicated Tom into telling him how Adam got the wound scar on his shoulder from Cathy having shot him. He also lets it out that Cathy is still alive, so Cal tries to get it out of Tom where his mother lives, and Cal mentions Connecticut, but all Tom will say is, "Wrong... wrong." We then learn that Tom's brother, Will, owns an automobile business there, and automobiles are becoming an increasingly popular means of transportation. Cal and Tom stand in front of Will's business, and finally Tom mentions about going to "Kate's." Pretty well drunk, Tom lets it slip out that Cathy is a whore.
Cal begins to follow his mother, who wears dark clothes and a veil. One day he tests the waters with Adam as they all sit at home. Cal "claims" that Aron is in on the idea too, but that with Mother's Day approaching, he proposes sending a wreath to be placed on their mother's grave. Adam is taken by surprise and tries to divert the conversation by saying that a wreath is too fragile to survive a long journey, but Cal shows his father a magazine article about refrigeration and the practice of using ice to preserve perishable items. Adam says he'll think things over, but Cal pushes the subject, which brings Aron's temper to flare. Something tells us that Aron doesn't quite buy Adam's story about their mother, but he'd just as soon not think about it, perhaps because he doesn't really want to know, as to learn the truth could bring a potential unpleasantness about his mother, but it also would prove that his father is a liar. We hear Aron tell Abra about his parents, based on Adam's story, and the story is comforting to Aron, but it's just that, a story. What if Aron is confronted with truth?
Meanwhile, Cal's idea about using ice to send a wreath has caught Adam's attention about refrigeration, and he takes home a stack of books from the library on the subject. Adam buys an icebox and he begins to place dishes filled with various food items into the icebox to see how long, and how well, they will keep.* One day when Lee opens the icebox, he slams to door shut because of the stench of spoiled food, but Adam continues his experiments. (This will soon become important)
Aron takes more serious steps toward pursuing a life in the ministry. After a service at the local Episcopal church, the funny moment of the miniseries takes place, as Cal's sense of humor takes center stage when he tells some neighbors (seemingly Abra's parents) who had questioned the religious commitment of the Trask family, "We Trasks have always walked in the way of the Lord. My maternal grandfather was a missionary in Africa. He got eaten up by Pygmy cannibals. They bit him off at the knees, he just fell to the ground and they gobbled him up like vanilla pudding." Adam looks for some way to stop the foolishness, as the questioner is taking the story very seriously. Adam finally interrupts to go talk with Will Hamilton, and he glares at Cal as he passes him.
Adam and Cal go to meet with Will Hamilton to hear what he thinks of their idea to use ice to ship lettuce from Salinas Valley farmers to the eastern part of the country. Will comes out against the idea, but, while he's at Will automobile showroom, Adam decides to by a motor vehicle. Will tells him he'll put him on a waiting list, because he can't get enough automobiles to keep up with demand. As Adam and Cal prepare to leave in their buggy, Will tells them that instead of lettuce, they should get involved in beans. Will explains that with the war going on in Europe (what will eventually initially be called, the Great War, and then later, World War One), that there is a developing need for foods that can be kept without ice and that the price of beans has been rising. Will says further that once the U.S. enters the war, which he feels is inevitable, the price of beans will skyrocket. Idealistic Adam questions about taking advantage of people in wartime to make a profit. Adam and Cal drive off, but Adam tells Cal he's going to buy the town's ice plant, which he does, and he decides to go ahead with his idea about the lettuce, which is packed into crates and loaded onto boxcars with ice to be shipped eastward. At first things go well, but the sun beats down on the boxcars and the ice continues to melt. Then the shipment gets left to the side when it reaches Chicago, only to be discovered when the smell of the spoiled lettuce is unbearable. Adam takes a major loss to the money that had kept him, his sons and Lee all living well for so long..... The money left to him by his father, who had pilfered it from Civil War veterans. Simultaneously, Will brings Adam's new car, which will require the balance to be paid (he'd given a 25% deposit initially). Lee thinks Adam should cancel the car purchase to conserve the money, but Adam says the deposit was "like a promise," and that he plans to honor it, so Lee asks, "What do you want for supper, roast pig or roast pride?"
Cal continues to go out at night, but now he secretly drives the car into Monterey and he goes to Kate's, where a group of college boys are partying. Cal acts like he's one of them and he goes inside. He goes up the stairway unnoticed to the next floor, with its dimly lit hallway. Suddenly he hears a voice say, "What do you want?" He turns around and it's a woman. When he asks if she's Kate, she answers, "Who do you suppose I am, Mother Goose?" She asks who he is, but just then police whistles sound, and she tells him to leave. It's a police raid and Cal is arrested with the others. In a bit of a funny scene, the sheriff (the same sheriff from years before) asks each college boy his name, and the names roll in as "John Smith," "Rick Smith," "Tom Smith," etc, bringing the sheriff to say that "we've rounded up every Smith in town tonight" (ah, I'll leave that statement alone). When the sheriff comes to Cal, Cal blurts out, "Woodrow Wilson," bringing the sheriff to say, "The president of the United States caught in whorehouse raid. How do you suppose the press would treat a thing like that?" Cal answers, "They won't know if you don't tell them." Cal is released and goes home to a totally quiet Adam. This is a key scene in the story. Cal assumes he'll be punished, but Adam begins talking with him, eventually saying, "I'm as bad a father was my father was." Cal tells him that he and Aron don't feel Adam is a bad father, but he asks Cal, "How would you know, you've never had any other kind?" The two talk and Cal tells his father he didn't do anything wrong, but that just being there was wrong. This brings Adam to question Cal's statement, and he tells his son the story of how he got arrested for vagrancy after getting out of the army, and how he spent a year on a chain gang in Florida. He says it was for "just being there." Cal now has a connection with his father and he is really happy. As he reheats the coffee for his father, the two talk more, and Adam asks about how Cal views his brother. Cal tells him that Aron is different from him, and he goes on to say all sorts of good things about Aron. Adam asks Cal if he loves his brother and he says he does, but that he tricks Aron at times, and cheats him, and he occasionally hurts him without any reason. Adam sits gently nodding in agreement. Then Cal says, "Sometimes...," but Adam finishes Cal's thought, "Sometimes you hate him," to which Cal agrees, but he asks how his father knew that. Adam tells him that he grew up with a brother. Just then the coffee boils over and the two of them rise together to wipe up the hot coffee from the stove. Cal is bursting with happiness at the closeness to his father. He's so happy and excited he unthinkingly blurts out, "I don't hate my brother now, I don't think I ever will again. I don't think I'll ever hate anybody, not even my mother." Cal catches what he said, but it's too late. Silence descends briefly. Adam asks if Cal knows about his mother and Cal tells him he knows everything. Adam asks if Aron knows about her, but Cal quickly and firmly says that he doesn't know about her. Adam asks why he said it that way about Aron, and Cal tells him he wouldn't want to tell his brother, because, "I don't think he could stand it. I don't think he has enough badness in him." Adam asks, "But you do?" Cal tells his father he's been to Kate's, "I had to know." Adam wonders how Aron would react if someone told him about his mother, and Cal tells him he would likely lash out at the person and say it was a lie. Cal then tells his father that he should send Aron away to college where there is no danger of his finding out about his mother. This prompts Adam to ask Cal if he plans to go to college and Cal shakes his head negatively. Then, reminiscent of Charles and Adam upon Adam's return home from the army, Adam gives Cal a loving embrace in a touching moment. Cal goes out the front door as Adam and Lee follow him out onto the porch. Cal is happy and he dashes up the street. Adam tells Lee, "He knows about his mother." Lee replies, "It didn't seem to have hurt his disposition much."
Cal goes to see Will Hamilton. He tells Will he wants to make a lot of money to give to his father to make up for the lost money from the lettuce. We now get a deeper look into Will, who asks Cal if he will honestly answer a question before they go any further. Cal answers, "I don't know," which impresses the conservative businessman Will, who says, "I like that. How do you know until you've heard the question? That's honest AND it's smart." Will asks Cal if Adam likes Aron better than him, which brings Cal to ask Will if he's asking because Samuel liked Will's brothers better than him. It ruffles Will's feathers for a moment, but then he asks Cal if giving Adam the money is a way of Cal trying to buy his father's love. Cal tells him it's true. Will has heard truth. He has Cal go with him to the Trask farm that has been leased to a farmer since the Trasks moved out. Will goes back to his idea about beans, explaining that beans are currently priced at 3 cents a pound (remember, this was in about 1916 money values). He says they could offer the farmer and others 5 cents a pound, but that the price on the market will jump far past that amount as the war continues, and especially when the United States enters the war. Will tells Cal that the only problem is, Cal doesn't have any money to invest in the deal, but Cal says he can get the money. Later Cal goes to Lee and asks to borrow $5000 for a business venture. Lee hesitates only momentarily, bringing Cal to say if Lee won't lend him the money, he'll ask someone else for it... his mother. Lee agrees to the loan, saying that he believes Cal will repay him.
Cal continues to follow his mother, who is still always dressed in black and with a black veil. One day she turns and questions who he is. He tells her, "You're my mother. I just wanted to see what you looked like." This prompts Kate to move closer to get a better look at Cal. She tells him to come with her and the two go inside. Kate takes Cal to her room, but she then opens the door leading to another small, darkened room, where even the walls are darkly painted. It looks more like an animal's den, than a room for most humans. She very carefully removes her gloves and shows Cal her twisted hands, twisted with arthritis, and she tells him that he likely will get it too, that it ran in her family. (Remember, the basic story is about the things we inherit from our parents, who inherited things from their parents, and so on. There are a number of references to such things throughout the miniseries, but I've not covered each one. The question remains, how much, and just what exactly, can we control of the things we inherit?) Cal is curious, but obviously he is not taken with this place, and his mother asks asks, "What's the matter, don't you like my room?" She tells him, "The light outside hurts my eyes, I come in here to rest." Kate asks about her other son, and Cal says that Aron looks more like her. This brings the question from their mother, "Is he like me?" When Cal tells her that Aron wants to be a minister, Kate give a sort of sinister smile and says, "Hm, looks like me and wants to go into the church. Slick way to turn a buck." Cal defends his brother and says Aron is serious about church work. Kate now tells Cal she can see that he is smarter than Aron, but she adds, that he tricks him and hurts him at every chance. Cal asks why she would think these things, and Kate answers, "Because you have me in you." But Cal says, "I don't. I don't even know you." He asks Kate why she shot his father, but she avoids the question by asking, "You're fond of him, aren't you?" Cal answers, "I love him." He then returns to his question of Kate, who yells, "Because he tried to stop me." Kate gives her view that Adam took care of her when she was badly injured, only so he could have her as, "his own free whore." She then returns to how Cal is like her, but he strikes back, "The light outside doesn't hurt your eyes. You come in here because you're afraid. I don't hate you, but I'm glad you're afraid." Kate orders him out. In the next scene we see Kate sitting off to the side in the church where Aron is conducting part of the service. Then she later waits to see Cal while sitting in her carriage. She tells Cal she doesn't want Aron to know about her. (Just another point: Remember the discussion of the Cain and Abel story and Lee's comments that God protected Cain, even though he was a murderer, because God must have seen some good in Cain.)
Church bells sound and Lee holds up the newspaper for Adam to see. The headline reads: "U.S. Declares War On Germany." Lee tells Adam there is a war rally planned for the school gymnasium. Adam goes to the closet to get his coat and he sees an old picture of his father. He says, "Wouldn't you be happy to see this day," Adam says to the picture. Adam once told Aron's minister, "My father prayed directly to the god of war." Adam tells Lee that Cyrus was a thief, that he stole from Union veterans of the Civil War. Meanwhile at the gymnasium, the rally has started and Will tells Cal the price of beans is now 10 cents a pound and climbing. Aron gets Abra and says he needs to talk with her. When Adam arrives there, Will tells him he wants Adam to serve on the draft board, a thought that repels Adam, but Will demands it, trying to shame Adam with "it's your duty." Aron gets Abra off to the side and tells her that he's made a decision to live a life of purity and to remain abstinent. Abra is brokenhearted and she tells Aron how she's planned to marry him and have his children. When Aron tells her it will be difficult for both of them, she corrects him, saying, "I don't think it will be difficult for you at all. I think you're scared to death of sex." Adam admonishes her for such a statement.
Abra later tells Cal what Aron said and the two of them talk about Aron, Reverend Mr. Rolf (Aron's very pious minister) and, in a roundabout way, about religion. Abra half says and half asks Cal if it can be bad if two people who love one another want to be "close." Cal shakes his head to say, "no, it can't," and he follows it with his thoughts about Aron's minister, "who doesn't even go to the bathroom," that he is just an empty religious outfit with arms and legs sticking out. Abra asks if Aron knows about his mother and Cal answers that he feels that part of Aron knows, but that part of him doesn't want to know; that it would be too difficult to deal with the fact that she just up and left him. When Abra says that he, Cal, had gotten over it, Cal explains that he and Aron aren't true twins; that they come from separate eggs. Cal tells Abra that their mother must have been very beautiful and that Aron looks a lot like her, and he then suggests, "Maybe that's why my father always loved Aron best, because he reminded him of her." While Abra suggests that she would like to spend time with Cal, Cal discourages it, telling her to stick with Aron. When Cal walks Abra home, Aron is secretly watching them and he later confronts Cal at home. Cal tells him they had simply been talking about him, Aron, and that Abra loves him, but that she doesn't understand his ways, and that she would sleep with him, if he'd just ask her. This causes Aron to tell Cal that such a statement could cause his "soul to go spinning off to hell. The Lord takes note, Cal." This prompts Cal to tell Aron that he's not achieving much in his abstinence pledge, because he doesn't even know what he's giving up. When Aron asks where Cal gets his rottenness, Cal asks, "Do you really want to know?" Perhaps sensing more to come, Aron ducks into his room and closes the door. Aron goes off to Stanford for college.
One day Cal comes running home. He gives Lee his money back, with interest, something Lee says he doesn't want, but Cal tells him he may want to borrow the money again. Aron is coming home for Thanksgiving and a big celebration is planned. Cal tells Lee to order champagne, because he wants everything to be perfect for the party, as he has a present for his father. Lee jokingly says, "An offering? Not the fruit of the ground, I trust?" a statement not understood by Cal, but Lee tells him to forget about it anyway, that it was a poor joke. Aron returns home, but he confides to Cal that he's dissatisfied with college and he's seriously thinking of not going back, that he might just want to run the farm (where he and Cal had been born) with Abra. Cal fears that news like this will ruin the party and upset his plans to give Adam the money he's made from the beans. So he asks Aron to hold off on any announcement, but he doesn't tell Aron why. It doesn't seem to matter, as once they are all seated around the table (Abra is there too), Aron starts telling stories about his life in college and how he and some of the guys go out for "a couple of beers... okay... sometimes MORE than a couple." Everyone laughs, and Adam says, "I expect I did worse things when I was your age," and he looks over at Cal and winks, as Cal knows about his father's arrest all of those years ago. Everyone is happy and Adam offers a toast, with the champagne Cal bought, to, "the best thanksgiving we've ever had." Cal reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a small flimsy package wrapped in white paper and tied with some ribbon. He slides it over to his father, who asks what it is. Cal simply says, "It's a present for you." Lee smiles broadly as everyone waits in anticipation for Adam to open it. When he opens the wrapping paper, there are thousand dollar bills staring up at Adam, who suddenly turns serious. Cal says, "I made it to give to you to make up for losing the lettuce." Adam asks how Cal made the money, who explains briefly that he and Will Hamilton made it on beans. That they paid over market price to the farmers, but then when the price jumped, they made lots of money, and he tells Adam there is $15,000 there. Adam firmly says, "You'll have to give it back." The tension builds as Adam explains that he has to sign off on young men going into the army every day at the Draft Board, and that many will be killed or wounded. He asks Cal, "Do you think I could take a profit from that?" Cal tries to salvage it all by saying, "I'll keep it for you," but Adam firmly pushes Cal's hand away and tells him, "I won't ever want it." The others sit silently, and Lee looks on gloomily as he sees the terrible replication of the biblical tale right in front of him. And now the final touch, as Adam tells Cal he could have given him something other than money, like what Aron had given him, "pride in his work and gladness in his progress." (Remember, this isn't true, as Aron wants to leave college.) Cal pushes his chair away from the table and runs from the room with Adam yelling, "Don't be angry with me, son."
Later, Lee takes coffee to Cal in his room. As Cal mentions his mother and about her being part of him, Lee gets angry and tries to get through to Cal, finally telling him, "Timshel... thou mayest triumph over sin... From here on, whatever you do, it's not your father and it's not your mother; it's YOU! You do have a choice." Cal goes outside and awaits Aron's return from walking Abra home. When Aron comes along, Cal tells him he wants to show him something, and they take the car and Cal drives to Kate's. They go inside and Cal leads Aron to the upstairs and then into Kate's room. He opens the door to Kate's special dimly lit room and there she sits. Cal tells her he wants to introduce her son to her, Aron. Cal grabs Aron and pushes him toward Kate saying, "Say hello to your mother!" Aron repeats over and over, "No, no..." He stands and runs out, pushing Cal out of the way like a madman. As Cal pursues him, Aron grabs Cal and throws him down the stairway while still screaming, "No, no!"
Cal buys a bottle of whiskey and gets drunk. He doesn't return home until daylight. He passes Lee and starts up the stairway, only to have Adam call out and tell him, "You smell like a bar rag." Adam tells him Aron hasn't been home all night either and he asks if he knows where he is. Cal answers sharply, "No, am I supposed to look after him?" Cal goes to his room and Adam goes out to see if he can find out any news of Aron. Lee smells smoke coming from Cal's room and charges in. He finds Cal burning the fifteen $1000 bills. Cal asks Lee if he knows what he did, to which Lee replies that he can guess. Lee asks Cal if burning the money makes him feel better, but Cal says, "Not much." Cal says he doesn't know why he did it, and Lee says, "Because your father hurt your feelings, because your mother is a whore, or because you are just plain mean. Take your choice." Cal tells Lee he needs him to help him, that he doesn't want to do mean things. Adam can be heard coming into the house and when Lee goes to see if he has news of Aron, Adam is somewhat disoriented, but he has a telegram in his coat pocket from Aron. Lee reads it aloud, as Cal stays on the stairway, unseen by the two of them. Aron says he's joined the army.
Some time passes and Cal gets Abra and takes her in the car into the mountains for flowers, then along the Pacific coast. We learn that Aron's army unit has been sent to France. As they sit by the ocean, Cal talks about Aron and Abra getting married, but Abra says, "I don't love Aron." She goes on to explain to Cal that she and Aron had a story in their minds, from their childhood days, about their lives together, but when they grew up, for her, the story wasn't true anymore, but that Aron stuck to the story, because he wanted to know how it comes out. She theorizes that this is why Aron didn't want to know about his mother, because that's not how he wanted the story to be. Cal asks Abra about her own story and she answers, "I don't want to know how it comes out, I just want to be there while it's going on." Abra tells Cal she thinks she loves him, and finally they kiss.
At home, the doorbell rings and Lee goes to answer it. When he gets there, he finds a telegram has been slipped under the door. He looks at the envelope on the floor with dread, and Adam comes out, wanting to know who rang the bell. Lee hands a now shaken Adam the envelope. A little while later Cal and Abra come into the house with the flowers. Lee is sitting on the sofa with his eyes looking toward the floor. Cal asks what has happened and Lee tells the two of them that Aron is dead and that Adam has had a stroke. The doctor can't give a solid prognosis and he tells them he's not sure if the sight in Adam's right eye has been affected or even if he'll recognize anyone. Cal, Lee and Abra enter the room where Adam is partially propped up with pillows. Cal goes to the bedside and and says, "Father?" But he's uncertain if Adam knows who he is. Cal goes on and says that he's responsible for Aron's death, because he took him to Kate's and showed him his mother. He also takes responsibility for Adam's condition. Adam shifts his left eye toward Cal, then he barely opens his right eye. Cal stands and leaves the bedside. He tells Lee that his father now knows he killed his brother, that's he's a murderer. Lee tells Cal that they can't be certain what Adam thinks. Cal believes Adam's eyes told him he accused him of his brother's death, but Lee is not so sure. Cal leaves and Lee has Abra go after him. Cal tells Abra, that he killed his brother and is responsible for his father being paralyzed. He says, "My mother's a whore... I've got her blood, doesn't that mean anything to you?" Abra says, "No." Cal says he doesn't know where to hide, because his father's eyes told him that he killed his brother. Abra takes Cal's hand and tells him they're going back to his father. The nurse tells them he's awake. Lee, who has been a partial mother and father to Cal his entire life takes Cal's hand to lead him into his father's room. Abra follows. Lee kneels by the bedside and tells Adam to try to understand everything he will say. He tells Adam that Cal did something in anger that resulted in his brother's death, because he thought Adam had rejected him. "Your son is marked by guilt, almost more than he can bear. Don't leave him with his guilt. Give him your blessing. Help him. Give him his chance." Adam struggles, but he moves his left hand toward Cal. Lee thanks Adam and Cal replaces Lee next to his father. Lee asks Adam to form Cal's name with his lips to try to say his name. Adam says, "Timshel."
* When I was a kid, the term "icebox" was still around, although it had been transferred over to electrical refrigerators from the previous true iceboxes, which were not operated by electricity, but were really insulated closets that used ice, typically blocks of ice, to keep things cold. My maternal grandmother never used the term "refrigerator," it was an "icebox."
Photo is from the Acorn Media 2009 DVD set, Volume 3
Boil (noun for lump/swelling)-English has more than one word of this spelling, although they are related through Indo European. This is the noun for, "sore lump or swelling on the skin." It goes back to Indo European "bhel," which had the notion, "to swell, to bulge, to bloat out." This gave either Old Germanic or West Germanic "bulion" (long "u" sound), which meant "swelling, bump, lump, carbuncle." This gave Old English "byl/byle," with the same meaning. Later the spelling changed to "bile" (likely pronounced as if, "byle-eh"), before acquiring the modern spelling and pronunciation, which may have developed by influence of the verb "boil," meaning to heat water or other liquid to bubbling. The other Germanic languages have: German has "Beule" (pronounced as if, "boy-leh"), Low German Saxon "Buul," West Frisian "bûl" (?), Dutch "buil." Whether the word was developed in West Germanic (which includes English) or in Old Germanic, the ancestor of West Germanic, East Germanic and North Germanic, is a question I still have, as Danish seems to have "bule" for "a bump," and Swedish has "bula," with the same meaning, but it "could" be that these words were borrowings from a West Germanic relative (perhaps Low German, Frisian or English? The Danes and the Swedes had lots of contact with speakers of these languages) as I could find no similar word in Old Norse, the forerunner of the modern North Germanic languages.
Labels: Adam Trask, East Of Eden, East of Eden miniseries, English, etymology, good versus evil, Jane Seymour, John Steinbeck, refrigeration, Salinas Valley, Sam Bottoms, Soon-Tek Oh, Timothy Bottoms, timshel
posted by Randy at 6:19 PM
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