On The Mother Images In East Of Eden

John Steinbeck(1902-1968) is one of the most influential writers in the 20th century in American literature. East of Eden published in 1952 is the most important novel in Steinbeck's later works. With the comparison of good and evil, the novel reflects Steinbeck's belief in man's pursuit of truth, good and beauty. Of many female images in the novel, Cathy catches the eyes of the critics most. However, fewer critics systematically analyze the mother images in the novel.With the perspective of feminist literary criticism, the thesis analyzes these mother images in detail. They are categorized as follows:The first type of mother images is the great mothers, Liza and Olive, who are eulogized by the author. They possess the holy maternal love and they are described as the indestructible mothers. They run their families very well and educate their children successfully. Moreover, they are courageous enough to pursue and realize their self-value. The second type of mother images is the oppressed mothers, Adam's mother and Alice, who are confined to the family. Although they are idealized as angels in the family in the patriarchal society, they lose their autonomy and rights of discourse. The third type of mother images is the distorted mother Cathy, who is defined as the obscure and impersonal "monster". To get her self-actualization, she deserts the newly-born twin sons and restarts her prostitution. She is reproached as the irresponsible mother. The fourth type of mother images is the whores'mother, Faye. She is the madam of a whorehouse in Salinas. However, she is full of maternal love and concerns herself with the clothing, feeding, welfare, health and psychological feelings of the whores. What she does wins her respect and good reputation.Hopefully with this paper, the richness of mother images in Steinbeck's East of Eden can be better appreciated and American women's states of existence around the 20th century can be better understood.