Rejection: From Broken Heart to Broken Skull

Elizabeth Tov

Mr. Barnes

English Honors Blk. 4

21 September 2016

Rejection: From Broken Heart to Broken Skull

Rejection is the act of dismissing because one is inadequate and or unacceptable in the beholder’s view. As depressing as it is to say, everyone has experienced rejection in some way, shape, and form. John Steinbeck believes that everyone “has felt rejection” and he would go as extreme to say that for some people, “rejection is the hell he fears” (Steinbeck 270).  Being rejected is a brutal feeling whether it’s from insignificant situations such as a refusal of a credit card at an ATM or something as major as a marriage dismissal. Rejection churns emotion and in some cases makes us feel undesired, worthless, and undeserving of love. Steinbeck writes that “with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for rejection” (Steinbeck 270). What he writes is true because along with the feeling of worthlessness and undesirability, rejection can bring about that hunger for evil that every human being possesses---the need for revenge. It is from this that makes me defend John Steinbeck’s opinion on rejection and the emotions that come with it.^[a] 

For some people, children especially, “rejection is the hell he^[b] fears” (Steinbeck 270). This is true because rejection causes a feeling of being unloved. That feeling can lead to the appearance of other emotions that can have negative repercussions. Again, the sense of unwantedness hinders people from partaking in anything that places them in a situation where rejection is likely to happen.  This happens in East of Eden during Thanksgiving when Cal is preparing to give the money to Adam because of the lettuce loss. Cal is anxious about what his father would say. Lee notices this and asks, “Nervous?” Cal replies saying, “Yes.” Lee comforts Cal by reassuring, “I don’t blame you, I would be too. It’s hard to give people things” (Steinbeck 538). Lee understands what Cal is feeling, the fear of the likelihood of rejection. Cal continues to experience this feeling even when he is giving Adam the money. When Adam asks what the money is for, Cal stammers in his speech; “It’s---I made it---to give you---to make up for losing the lettuce” (Steinbeck 543). Well aware of the increasing chance of rejection, “Cal caught a feeling---a feeling of calamity, of destruction in the air, and a weight of sickness overwhelmed him” (Steinbeck 543).^[c] He knew his father would refuse the gift. Adam does, which strikes a nerve in Cal’s heart, and the sensation of neglect and unwantedness surges through him. To further inflame that feeling, Adam drags Aron into the whole mess by comparing the two brothers. “I wo^[d]uld have been so happy if you could have given me---well, what your brother has---pride in the things that he is doing, gladness in his progress. Money, even clean money, doesn’t stack up to that” (Steinbeck 544). With that said, Cal is well aware of the fact that he is second best, and the lack of love he felt earlier evolves into a deeper, more destructive emotion.

Rejection hardens the heart and provokes the emergence of anger and malice. Anger along with other ill tempered emotions instigates “some kind of crime in revenge for the rejection” (Steinbeck 270). This idea of needing to inflict pain on the rejecter is derived from selfish motives caused by rejection. However, vengeance proves to carry disastrous consequences.  It can quickly turn from one person’s broken heart to another’s broken skull. This occurs often in East of Eden. First with Cyrus, Charles, and Adam. Then with the second Trask generation with Adam, Cal, and Aron.  Enraged at the rejection of his expensive gift, Charles seeks revenge on Adam, whose cheap gift is happily accepted by Cyrus. Charles corners Adam and begins to pummel him. He strikes Adam with “a hard blow in the stomach”,“^[e]four punches to the head”, and “punches on temples, cheeks, and eyes” (Steinbeck 30). Blow by blow, Charles releases his rage and forces the pain he received from the rejection onto Adam. Although Charles is content with his revenge, his actions reveal to have negative effects such as Cyrus’s wrath and not seeing his brother for a long time. Alike to Adam, Charles, and Cyrus’s situation, the revenge story between Aron and Cal is over a gift as well. To Cal’s disappointment,  Adam, who is unable to see that Cal worked hard to earn the money, rejects it and forces Cal to give it back. To top it all off, Adam, who clearly favors Aron, praises Aron on his academic achievements and shames Cal. Now fully infuriated, Cal goes for a walk to find Adam. When he does, Cal allows his selfish desires, that are fueled by the misery of rejection, to poison his mind, and he says to Adam, “I want to show you something” (Steinbeck 546). Aron blindly follows and together “they walk past Central Avenue toward Castroville Street” (Steinbeck 546) to Kate’s brothel. The truth of his mother’s whereabouts prove to be too much for Aron to handle, and he escapes it by enlisting in the army where he later dies. Because Cal acts on his fury that stems from his father’s refusal of the money and from his father’s admiration of Aron, he receives the consequence he deserves, which is the guilt of causing the indirect death of Aron.  In both scenarios, rejection sows a seed for revenge and other fatal results to blossom out of^[f]. ^[g]