Adam's final blessing

Adam's final blessing is the climactic moment of East of Eden, in which the paralyzed and dying Adam Trask, after being implored by Lee to free his son Cal from the crushing weight of guilt, whispers the Hebrew word "Timshel"—meaning "Thou mayest"—and thereby grants Cal the choice to triumph over sin, affirming the novel's central philosophy of human free will.

The Setting and the Crisis

Adam lies propped on pillows, his left side paralyzed and his right side partly so, his face waxen and his blue eyes reflecting the night light. He breathes slowly between pale lips. The nurse, a strong woman with heavy black eyebrows, has been banished from the room by Lee, who tells her to go and write her report. Cal and Abra stand at the foot of the bed, and Adam's eyes move slowly from one face to the other, his lips moving just a little in greeting. Lee speaks to Adam, acknowledging that there is damage in his brain and that no one can know what he perceives—whether he is alert and keen behind his eyes, or living in a confused gray dream, or perceiving only light and movement like a newborn child. Adam blinks slowly in response, and Lee thanks him, knowing how hard it is.

Lee's Plea and the Confession of Guilt

Lee asks Adam to do a much harder thing: to look at his son Caleb, his only son. Cal's mouth moves dryly and makes no sound. Lee's voice cuts in, telling Adam that he does not know how long he will live—maybe a long time, maybe an hour—but that his son will live, will marry, and his children will be the only remnant left of him. Lee then reveals the truth: Cal did a thing in anger because he thought Adam had rejected him, and the result of that anger is that his brother and Adam's son is dead. Cal protests, but Lee insists he has to say it, quoting Samuel Hamilton's words: "If there's blame, it's my blame." Lee tells Adam that his son is marked with guilt out of himself, almost more than he can bear, and begs Adam not to crush him with rejection. "Don't leave him alone with his guilt," Lee says. "Give him your blessing!"

The Blessing and the Word

A terrible brightness shines in Adam's eyes, and he closes them. A wrinkle forms between his brows. The whole bed seems to shake under the concentration. Adam's breath comes quick with his effort, and then, slowly, his right hand lifts—an inch—and then falls back. Lee moves to the head of the bed and wipes the sick man's damp face with the edge of the sheet. He whispers, asking Adam to make his lips form Cal's name. Adam looks up with sick weariness. His lips part and fail and try again. Then his lungs fill, and he expels the air, his lips combing the rushing sigh. His whispered word seems to hang in the air: "Timshel!" His eyes close and he sleeps.

The Thematic Significance

The word "Timshel" is the culmination of a long discussion that began years earlier, when Lee, Samuel Hamilton, and Adam first debated the meaning of the fourth chapter of Genesis. Lee had spent years studying Hebrew with a group of elderly Chinese scholars, and they concluded that the correct translation of God's words to Cain was not "Thou shalt" (a promise) or "Do thou" (an order), but "Thou mayest"—a choice. This word, Lee said, gives a man stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he still has the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win. Adam's final utterance of "Timshel" is therefore not merely a word of forgiveness to Cal, but a profound theological and philosophical statement: it affirms that human beings are not bound by predestination or inherited evil, but are free to choose their own path. It is the blessing that releases Cal from the deterministic trap of his mother's monstrous nature and his own guilt, and it is the novel's ultimate answer to the problem of good and evil.