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Adam Trask was a weak but kind boy and later man, his father treated him quite badly even his jealous, sadistic half- brother younger but stronger hit him repeatedly , barely surviving one brutal vicious fight. Born in the middle of the American Civil War, in a Connecticut farm he and brother Charles are turned into good little soldiers at a very tender age. Cyrus their father lost a leg in the war, boasting of being in every major battle (which is physically impossible). In fact the private was only in a blue uniform six months, getting his appendage shot off during the first day of his first battle. But Cyrus becomes such a good liar, that people begin to actually believe him as he, does as well! Yet writing these marvelous but fictional war articles, in the major American newspapers. Consequently he receives a job with the Grand Army of the Republic an influential veterans group of Union soldiers, in Washington. His first wife commits suicide, the second dies of illness let's say Cyrus was not a very lovable person. Adam is forced by his father at sixteen, to join the army to make him a man and save his hide from Charles. Running down the few scattered renegade Indians in the plain states, Adam hates his job still does it bravely and well. When the father dies both boys inherit a vast sum of money, was their father not only a liar but also a thief ? Out of the military good Adam marries a woman of ill repute Cathy, a lady so evil that Satan would be ashamed to be associated with her. Adam buys a farm in central California's rugged Salinas Valley , Cathy gives birth to twin boys non identical Caleb (Cal) and Aaron (Aron), shoots Adam and abandons the newborns. Not mother of the year material, the wife's manners could also be improved. Cathy takes up residence in a home which you can guess what kind it is, but Adam lives and goes into a deep funk ... Lee the much loved Chinese servant, takes over and raises the kids better than the moody, distant, bitter father could ever do ...Thoughts: This story is an allegory of the Bible's Adam and Eve , being thrown out of The Garden of Eden but also about wicked Cain and his good brother, Abel. Steinbeck was born in the frontier town of Salinas the Old West was still alive, the few settlers struggled to make a living in the harsh land. The world changed forever, as the book says when the year 1900 arrived,"Ladies were not ladies anymore and you couldn't trust a gentleman's word". Sam Hamilton a neighbor of Adam and soon friend, was different like a Patriarch out of the Bible with his nine children, wise and tough but not practical thus always poor ... Nevertheless these people are needed as Steinbeck believes, to give guidance to others, which is very lacking today. ..The author's most ambitious and his favorite work. Love and lots of hate, much conflict and a little peace all there. Sam Hamilton was the writer's grandfather.