Analytical reading-Part 1

East of Eden

by John Steinbeck

T

om, the third son, was most like his father. He was born in fury and lived in lightning. Tom came headlong into life. He was a giant in joy and enthusiasms. He didn’t discover the world and its people, he created them. He lived in a world shining and fresh. His mind plunged like a colt in a happy pasture, and when later the world put up fences he plunged against the wire, and when the final stockade surrounded him, he plunged right through it and out. And as he was capable of giant joy, so did he harbour huge sorrow, so that when his dog died, the world ended.

            Tom was as inventive as his father but he was bolder. He would try things his father would not dare. Perhaps it was his driving sexual need that made him remain a bachelor. It was a very moral family he was born into. It may be that his dreams and his longing, and his outlets, for that matter, made him feel unworthy, drove him sometimes whining into the hills. Tom was a nice mixture of savagery and gentleness. He worked inhumanly, only to lose in effort his crushing impulses.

            The Irish do have a despairing quality of gaiety, but the have also a dour and brooding ghost that rides on their shoulders and peers in on their thoughts. Let them laugh too loudly, it sticks a long finger down their throats. They condemn themselves before they are charged, and this makes them defensive always.

Lexical analysis:

plunge vb Plunge, dive, pitch are comparable when they mean to throw or cast oneself or to be thrown or cast forward or downward with force or impetuosity into or as if into deep water

harbor vb (in this context: to hold in the mind; to cling to (to harbor a grudge—тая злоба/завист към някого)¾тая, питая, изпитвам, усещам (обикн. лоши чувства); to ~ envy тая завист vb Harbor, shelter, entertain, lodge, house, board are comparable when they mean to provide a place (as in one's home, quarters, or confines) where someone or something may stay or be kept for a time.

         i.            Harbor usually implies provision of a place of refuge especially for a person or an animal that is evil or hunted or noxious (harbor thieves)  (cellars that harbor rats and cockroaches)¾приютявам, подслонявам, давам подслон на; крия, укривам

2. Shelter, more often than harbor, takes for its subject the place or the thing that affords (as distinguished from the person that supplies) protection or a place of retreat; it also distinctively suggests a threat to one's comfort or safety (as by the elements, by pursuers or attackers, or by a bombardment); the term further suggests, as harbor does not, a covering or screening (in such a season born, when scarce a shed could be obtained to shelter him or me from the bleak air—Milton)¾подслонявам (се), давам (намирам) подслон, приютявам (се); закътвам, защищавам, предпазвам (from); to ~ (o.s.) from the wind отивам на завет
3. Entertain basically implies the giving of hospitality to a person as a guest at one's table or in one's home¾угощавам, приемам гости; to ~ s.o. to dinner давам обед (вечеря) на някого
4. Lodge implies the supplying or affording a habitation, often a temporary habitation; often it suggests provision merely of a place to sleep and carries no implications of feeding or entertaining (Mrs. Brown will lodge three of the party for the weekend) (every house was proud to lodge a knight—Dryden) In the extended use of this sense lodge may imply reception as if of a guest or denizen, not only, like harbor, into the mind but into anything thought of as a receptacle or as a place where a thing may be deposited or imbedded (the isolated, small family unit of the patriarchal type, with formal authority lodged in the father—Dollard) (so fair a form lodged not a mind so ill—Shak.) ¾подслонявам, приютявам, настанявам временно
5. House usually implies the shelter of a building with a roof and side walls that affords protection from the weather (he could find no place in the village to house his family suitably) (the rich man has fed himself, and dressed himself, and housed himself as sumptuously as possible—Shaw) (house gardening implements in a shed) (house an art collection in the new library building) House is somewhat rare in extended use, but it usually implies enclosing or confining in a particular place (the universal does not attract us until housed in an individual—Emerson) (so timorous a soul housed in so impressive a body—Long)¾подслонявам; давам подслон на
6. Board may mean to provide a person with meals at one's table (we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen —Shakespeare) (the question is, will she board as well as lodge her guest?—Clara Morris¾храня се (обикн. на пансион); приемам на пансион; to ~ with a family храня се при някое семейство

bold brave, courageous, unafraid, fearless, intrepid, valiant, valorous, dauntless, undaunted, audacious

Ana daring, reckless, venturesome, adventurous, daredevil, rash, foolhardy, mettlesome, spirited, fearless, unapprehensive, unafraid

Ant cowardly, timid, timorous, quailing, flinching, shrinking, recoiling

driving adj  transmitting power or motion, energetic or active: a driving personality¾енергичен

crush vb Crush, mash, smash, bruise, squash, macerate are comparable when they mean to reduce or be reduced to a pulpy or broken mass

Ana destroy, demolish, ruin, wreck, annihilate, obliterate, blot out, efface

despairing adj hopeless, desperate, despondent, forlorn

Ana melancholy, melancholic, pessimistic, depressed

Ant hopeful, optimistic, sanguine, confident, assured, sure

dour adj saturnine, glum, gloomy, sullen, morose, surly, sulky, crabbed—шотл. суров, строг; упорит, непреклонен; мрачен, намусен, кисел; раздразнителен

Ana severe, stern, austere, rigorous, strict, rigid, grim, implacable

dour and brooding ghost—зъл и зловещ призрак (алитерацията може да се запази на български език)

Translation tips:

Tom came headlong into life—Том се втурна стремглаво в живота.

It was his driving sexual need that made him remain a bachelor—Плътските желания, които го бладаваха, го накараха да си остане ерген.