The book of Genesis
Uploaded by basmith on Jun 16, 2002
The book of Genesis draws many similarities between the character of Eve and the grandmother of Paul Auster. In the beginning of the Holy Bible, God created Adam and Eve. When he created them he forbade them from eating fruit from the tree of knowledge located in the center of the Garden of Eden. When Eve was approached by a serpent that persuaded her to eat the fruit, she removed the fruit from the tree and fed it to herself and Adam. When Eve was approached by God he asked her why she ate the fruit , she said that the serpent had made her eat the fruit and told her it would not harm her or Adam . God then punished them for their actions. The comparison between this excerpt from the Bible and Paul Auster’s grandmother is simple. When Paul Auster’s grandmother was faced with the decision to shoot and kill her husband, she performed the act and then explained that she did this because her husband was a threat to her and she was very frightened. In both instances both of the women in the stories explained their actions and insisted on blaming it on another person or thing. The only difference in the two stories is that Eve was punished for her actions and was given the horrible pain that comes with child birth. On the other hand Paul Austers grandmother was released from her crimes and did not receive any punishment but the hardship that comes along with being a single mother.
The book of Genesis is greatly related to Paul Austers grandmother in many ways. She is presented to the reader as an Eve character. As stated before she is using the “Eve theory”, Paul Auster’s grandmother feels she is not responsible for the death of her husband, according to her she is insane, which seems to be very unlikely. Austers grandmother was very aware of her actions and what she was doing, just as Eve was. Eve did not need to a serpent to increase her curiosity of the tree of Knowledge. Just like anyone that is put into a situation where they are restricted from doing something, their curiosity is obviously increased. The reason why Austers grandmother was released of her charges probably lays upon the jurors. The Jurors in the case were obviously not only impressed with Austers testimony but were also...