East of Eden by John Steinbeck idioms and stuff that doesnt make sense

[fatman]

Don't beat yourself up over how long it took—it is hard to see anything through the cloud of incoherence.

what about me? i think i ask intelligent questions. im mostly asking about interpretations. if the interpretations seem a bit obvious i know it can look stupid but i still have some uncertainty. i just want a concensus on the actual meaning. it bothers me if i interpret the text the wrong way. plus there might be a moral to the story that i can miss if i skip it.

and here are the quotes i didnt understand again. they are from chapter 22 pages 255-257 in the centennial edition when samual is scolding adam;
"pay has been more than I’ve merited by the nature of it." (i think he meant you've paid me more than enough but im just making sure)
"A man, his whole life, matches himself against pay. And how, if it’s my whole life’s work to find my worth, can you, sad man, write me down instant in a ledger?”"(honestly i have no idea what he meant)
"with sweet paternity for a fertilized egg" (is samual saying that adam just wanted some pussy?)
"You bought your uprightness. You bought your thumb on sideways." (i think he is saying that adam is a goody two shoes but im not sure.)
"The stone orchard celebrates too little, not too much" (no idea what this means)

[Steven Hunley]

Eden is about lost innocents and East of Eden is too. And the repetitive long E sound in East of Eden sounds better than West of Eden, you have to admit.

[cacian]

Eden is about lost innocents and East of Eden is too. And the repetitive long E sound in East of Eden sounds better than West of Eden, you have to admit.

Of course there is nothing more riveting then two Es following each other.

[Emil Miller]

It took far longer than it should have, but you finally convinced me - without a doubt - that you are a troll.

Oh dear, and there was I thinking that Cacian was the natural successor to James Joyce. The scales have fallen from my eyes and I see that all that Joycean verse was nothing but the creation of a prankster seeking to usurp the intellectual content of the LitNet.

[cafolini]

Percentagewise, mentally ill people are very few. But they surely can make the most noise.

[fatman]

Percentagewise, mentally ill people are very few. But they surely can make the most noise.

ah screw it. i'll just skip it.

[ennison]

No don't skip it. Your questions are about genuinely difficult idioms and dialectical usage. But what I was trying clumsily to say to you is that separating these bits from the whole is not always the best way to come to grips with a novel as densely idiomatic as that one. However one of the bits that you quote above seems relatively easy to me "a man ... a ledger" Many people judge their own and others value as a human being by the size of their wallet but that is a very limited way to measure the worth of a human being. The other bits seem to me to require more context.

[ennison]

Troll? Reminds me of a wee rabht. Goes like so. How happy is the troll! He does not give a damn. I wish I were a troll. My Gosh I think I am!

[fatman]

Troll? Reminds me of a wee rabht. Goes like so. How happy is the troll! He does not give a damn. I wish I were a troll. My Gosh I think I am!

at the end of chapter 26 is lee calling samual his father? and was there a reason why adam left so hastily??

[JuniperWoolf]

It took far longer than it should have, but you finally convinced me - without a doubt - that you are a troll. I have no time or patience for trolls, so I will just ignore you and deal with the fact that approx. 80% of this forum is now closed to me. Farwell.

I'm just impressed that you were still reading her posts all the way into March.

[fatman]

I'm just impressed that you were still reading her posts all the way into March.

"Hick came in from King City. Just sold his crop. Bought out the house. Dropped seven hundred not counting what he give the girls."

what does bought out the house mean?
is he saying a hick also gave away seven hundred bucks not counting some given to the girls?

[togre]

"bought out the house" -- the house is the establishment --here it sounds like a saloon, or perhaps a store. "to buy out" means to buy everything so there is nothing left for anyone else to buy.

So some country fellow came in from King City and sold his harvest for a big stack of cash which he then spent on a binge. He bought everything in sight. He must have spent $700 and that doesn't include "what he gave the girls" --I figure that would be tips or gifts to saloon gals, but the context should tell you better.