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In the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters, Caleb Trask, continuously struggles with the evil within him. At one point in his life, Caleb is certain that the struggle is a lost cause. This realization was brought about when he found out that his mother was a whore and generally an evil person. Caleb feels that his struggle with evil will be inevitably lost because it has been passed …

…the evil within herself. Lee instilled the though in him that he did not have to follow his mother's pattern. He had to make his own choice between good and evil. Lee told him that it was cowardly to blame his wrong decisions on heredity. Caleb had the free choice to use his good morals as his conscience saw fit. Heredity had nothing to do with Caleb's ability of being a good or evil person