“If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule — a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting — only the deeply personal and familiar.”
On Una: “She seemed always to be listening. When she was reading, her face would be like the face of one listening to music.”
“And then Dessie fell in love. I do not know any details of her love affair — who the man was or what the circumstances, whether it was religion or a living wife, a disease or a selfishness…All I do know is that it was a hopeless thing, gray and terrible. After a year of it the joy was all drained out of Dessie and the laughter ceased.”
“I think this is the best-known story in the world because it is everybody’s story. I think it is the symbol story of the human soul. I’m feeling my way now — don’t jump on me if I’m not clear. The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world to a large or small extent has felt rejection. And with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for the rejection, and with the crime guilt — and there is the story of mankind. I think that if rejection could be amputated, the human would not be what he is. Maybe there would be fewer crazy people. I am sure in myself there would not be many jails. It is all there — the start, the beginning. One child, refused the love he craves, kicks the cat and hides his secret guilt; and another steals so that money will make him loved; and a third conquers the world — and always the guilt and revenge and more guilt. The human is the only guilty animal. Now wait! Therefore I think this old and terrible story is imoprtant because it is a chart of the soul — the secret, rejected, guilty soul.”
“The King James version says this — it is when Jehovah has asked Cain why he is angry. Jehovah says, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.’ It was the ‘thou shalt’ that struck me, because it was a promise that Cain would conquer sin…Then I get a copy of the American Standard Bible. It was very new then. And it was different in this passage. It says, ‘Do thou rule over them.’ Now this is very different. This is not a promise, it is an order…And this was the gold from our mining: ‘Thou mayest.’ ‘Thou mayest rule over sin.’…The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin, meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel — ‘Thou mayest’ — that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’ — it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’…It cuts the feet from under weakness and cowardliness and laziness.”
“I remember he said one time that a woman who knows all about men usually knows one part very well and can’t conceive the other parts, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
“He said, ‘There’s more beauty in the truth even if it is dreadful beauty. The storytellers at the city gate twist life so that it looks sweet to the lazy and the stupid and the weak, and this only strengthens their infirmities and teaches nothing, cures nothing, nor does it let the heart soar.’ ”
With Lee, Cal’s tricks did not work, for Lee’s bland mind moved effortlessly ahead of him and was always there waiting, understanding, and at the last moment cautioning quietly, “Don’t do it.”
Adam’s recognition brought a ferment of happiness to Cal. He walked on the balls of his feet. He smiled more often than he frowned, and the secret darkness was seldom on him.
Lee, recognisinig the change in him, asked quietly, “You haven’t found a girl, have you?”
“Girl? No. Who wants a girl?”
“Everybody,” said Lee.
There was the flashing Samuel, beautiful as dawn with a fancy like a swallow’s flight, and the brilliant, brooding Tom who was dark fire, Una who rode the storms, and lovely Mollie, Dessie of laughter, George handsome and with a sweetness that filled a room like the perfume of flowers, and there was Joe, the youngest, the beloved. Each one without effort brought some gift into the family.
Nearly everyone has his box of secret pain, shared with no one. Will had concealed his well, laughed loud, exploited perverse virtues, and never let his jealousy go wandering. He thought of himself as slow, doltish, conservative, uninspired. No great dream lifted him high and no despair forced self-destruction. He was always on the edge, trying to hold on to the rim of the family with what gifts he had — care, and reason, application. He kept the books, hired the attorneys, called the undertaker, and eventually paid the bills. The others didn’t even know they needed him. He had the ability to get money and to keep it. He thought the Hamiltons despised him for his one ability. He had loved them doggedly, had always been at hand with his money to pull them out of their errors. He thought they were ashamed of him, and he fought bitterly for their recognition. All of this was in the frozen wind that blew through him.
“Go to bed now, and in the morning get up early and tell your father about the tests. Make it exciting. He’s lonelier than you re because he has no lovely future to dream about.”
“Laughter comes later, like wisdom teeth, and laughter at yourself comes last of all in a mad race with death, and sometimes it isn’t in time.”
“He asked me to go to the Alisal when the wild azaleas bloom.”
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Found the library copy of East Of Eden and am devouring it — I like its description of sibling relations, of people who breathe and sin and choose, and Steinback writes with insight, compassion and grace. The mystery of identity; the inexplicability of love; the consequences of love’s absence. The best book I’ve read this year. Go read it.
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:) It’s a daily feat, getting myself dressed and out of the house with all my effects and reach work safely. First I forgot the yoga mat, and had to head back upstairs from the bus-stop. Then I tripped over my yoga pants while running for the bus. And when I was on the train, I realised I’d forgotten to bring work clothes — ended up having to buy a skirt at This Fashion.
Dinner conversation of how MPs break the handshakes of people who won’t let go, the last kampung in Singapore, sumo wrestlers and retractable testicles, Olympics bribery and opening ceremonies, Bulgarian umbrella assassinations, how sex is used during election campaigning. It’s gonna be a busy week, what with the inauguration and Budget and such — fun talk with great colleagues over nice meals brings up the spirits.
A: So they had the crippled archer in Barcelona, and to top that they brought out the doddering (imitates doddering actions) Muhammad Ali in Atlanta.
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To read: The Grapes Of Wrath
