Sunday, August 15, 2010
Adam
Adam Trask struggles to overcome the actions of others-his father, brother, and wife-and make his own life. What is the lesson that he learns that frees him from Kate and allows him to love his sons? He says to Cal near the end that "if you want to give me a present-give me a good life. That would be something I could value." Does Adam have a good life? What hinders him? Would you characterize his life as successful in the end?
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The lesson that he learns that frees him from Kate is that a women can know a part of a man like the back of her hand but is blinded to the other aspects of a man. Kate never truly understood Adam's love for her. I think Adam believes he has a bad life but indeed it is good. He has money, a nice home and kids. Maybe what is bothering him is the fact that Kate left him. At the end of his life, Adam was successful because he was able to let go of Kate and realize that he favored Aron the same as his father treated Charles. In a way, his success was this realization and his blessing saved Cal from a life full of guilty and hurt.
ReplyDeleteI think Adam has a good life but wants a better one, I think he realizes that he has a good life after Kate is gone when he buys a Ford, starts to meet his sons, and starts to enjoy his life. The thing that sets him free is that he does not need her love and he does not need to love kate because he has other people who he can love and who can love him
ReplyDeleteI hate Kate. She was evil and manipulative and kind of like an old perverted man. I was glad that Steinbeck decided to break it up between Kate and Adam. Adam, on the other hand, was a very sweet dude. He was pretty dumb, though. He knew very little about his sons, not to mention Lee, or even the world surrounding him.
ReplyDeleteI am supposed to comment twice, right?
By the way that was Simone who just commented... the seaturtlefred dude...
ReplyDeleteI think that Adam learned that kate was an evil human being when he finally saw her at the whorehouse. I feel like from that visit Adam got a wake up call and realized she wasn't as innocent and beautiful as he had once percieved. With him being able to realize he has no love for kate anymore, it enabled him to start being envolved with his sons. Being envloved with his sons and getting to know them brought Adam joy and a better life.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson that he learns that frees him from Kate is that sometimes you believe that you can change someone but people stay true to their personalities. I believe that after seeing Kate run the whorehouse Adam finally come to terms with the fact that she will be the person whom he wishes her to be. I believe that Adam does have a good life. He finally sees how he had unconsciously favored Aron over Cal just like his father favored Charles over him.
ReplyDeleteAdam has never really liked the life he has had since childhood. With Cathy, he began to think differently about life, began to believe that with her it was all good. Then that came crumbling down when she left. But what set him free from all that is realizing that he never needed her. He needed a visual to see that he didn't need her and he got that by seeing her in the whorehouse. Knowing he was better off, freed him to have a better relationship with his sons and to try to live a life again. in the end, he has a good life because he leaves with his son with a blessing that can save him from the life Adam had.
ReplyDeleteI think when Adam stopped caring about Cathy was when he finally saw her at the brothel. He realized his life was for his boys now. He didn't like his life after Cathy left but after seeing her in the whorehouse he felt relieved he wasn't with her anymore. When he dies I think he tries telling Cal that he loves him because he didn't want to make the same mistake his father did
ReplyDeleteAdam had a dark childhood with the violence that came from his brother. But that wasn't his biggest problem. His wife was. I believe that he had a perfect imagae of Cathy burned in his mind and nothing she did or said could erase it. So when she left him, he tried to cover up for her because he couldn't let himself believe that she actually shot and abandoned him. When he finally let her go and freed his conscience, that was when he really got to know and love his two sons. And there's a part when he says something to Cal about how the greatest gift isn't money, but it's the pure feeling of success.
ReplyDeleteI think that Adam spent to much time as a wonderer, he was never really happy with anything in his life. He was always itching to be somewhere else, be someone else, have something else. He never really knew what he wanted so when it came time he never realized what was right infront of him. Like Aron, Adam is a dreamer, he gets so caught up in that dream that it becomes the only thing he wants, and since dreams are perfect and nothing is ever perfect Adam never got what he wanted.
ReplyDeleteI think you guys have covered this one. Unless you have something unique to say, please consider responding to another post. You can click "older posts" at the bottom of the page to see more posts.
ReplyDeleteAfter visiting Kate in the whorehouse, Adam came to realize that one creates their life for themself. Adam spent much of his life in darkness and misery because he felt sorry for himself. He had a difficult childhood and a challenging marriage, so as a result, he gave up all hope. It was not until he truly saw Kate as a monster that he was able to let go of her. And once he was able to let go of her, he was able to grab onto his sons and become part of their lives. However, Adam continued to have many ups and downs in his life. These physical occurrences were caused by chance, however Adam's emotional responses to these changes were caused by himself. I believe that Adam could have had a good life if he chose to live as a content man. However, Adam chose to let the miseries in his life effect him in a negative manner and, in his eyes, turn his life for the worst.
ReplyDeleteI felt that Adam as a character was strong, but very weak as a person. When he was young, he just did what his father told him. His brother was strong and took advantage of him. Later in life, when he met Cathy, she ruled his life. He fell in love with her and thought she loved him back. He only imagines her feelings for him though. She is only using him, but he thinks that she wants to stay with him forever and raise a family and be together. When Cathy leaves him he just mopes around in a gray fog with no concern for anyone, not himself and certainly not his twin sons. This shows a selfish weakness in him. He eventually grows out of this, but I believe that he never completely leaves this part of himself behind.
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