Lee Timeline in East of Eden (2024)

Lee Timeline in East of Eden (1)

by John Steinbeck

  • Lee /
  • Lee Timeline

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East of Eden
  • Lee is born in a railroad camp in the Sierras. His mother is brutally raped and murdered when the workers find out that she is a woman.
  • Lee starts working for Adam as a servant, and speaks in pidgin. Samuel Hamilton is the one who figures out that he's faking it.
  • After Cathy leaves and Adam slips into his comatose state, Lee raises the boys.
  • Lee becomes the resident scholar. He knows a ton about literature, and even learns Hebrew just to figure out the meaning behind the story of Cain and Abel. No wonder Samuel is his best friend.
  • When the Trasks move to Salinas, Lee briefly leaves to pursue his long-sought dream of owning a bookstore. He's back a few weeks later though, and gets right back to taking care of everyone.
  • Lee lends Cal the money he needs to go into business with Will Hamilton.
  • It's Lee who realizes that Adam's eye problem is really the sign of a stroke.
  • Lee gets really close to Abra. The two of them have a lot of big life talks.
  • When Lee gets the telegram that Aron has died, he relays the news to Adam, which prompts Adam's full-blown stroke.
  • Lee demands that Adam give Cal his blessing before Adam dies.

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Lee Timeline in East of Eden (2024)

FAQs

What is Lee's backstory in East of Eden? ›

Lee is born in a railroad camp in the Sierras. His mother is brutally raped and murdered when the workers find out that she is a woman. Lee starts working for Adam as a servant, and speaks in pidgin. Samuel Hamilton is the one who figures out that he's faking it.

What is the timeline East of Eden? ›

The novel's action spans from 1862 through the outbreak of WWI (1914-1918), a time period of tremendous technological development and change in the United States.

Is Lee in the East of Eden movie? ›

Stephen Park On Playing A Code-Switching Character In Steinbeck's 'East Of Eden' : Code Switch Park plays Lee, a Chinese servant with an interesting approach to getting by in America, in a new theatrical adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic.

Why does Lee speak pidgin in East of Eden? ›

When Samuel asks Lee how he can have such a strong accent even though he was born in the United States, Lee stops talking in pidgin and speaks impeccable English. He says that he speaks in pidgin because it is expected of him, and that people wouldn't understand a Chinese person speaking to them in perfect English.

What did Lee do before the Apocalypse? ›

Pre-Apocalypse

His mother, father, and only brother worked at the family's pharmacy in Macon. Lee had been a history professor at the University of Georgia for six years before the incident with the senator. He owned a pet fish, which he kept on his desk at work.

Who is the father of the twins in East of Eden? ›

The plot line is loosely based on the biblical story of Cain and Abel. The story is set in 1917, during World War I, in the central California coastal towns of Monterey and Salinas. Cal and Aron are the young adult sons of a farmer and wartime draft board chairman, Adam Trask, with whom they live in the Salinas valley.

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