Cain+and+Abel

Victoria Gillin, Maddy Garrett, John Jayo
 * //Cain and Abel: A Biblical tale of two brothers//**


 * The Story of Cain and Abel:** Cain and Abel is a story originally from the bible. Cain is the first born child of Adam and Eve; Abel is born shortly there after. The two brothers grow older and begin their livelyhoods; Cain as a Farmer, Abel a Shepard. They both serve the Lord through sacrafices to make up for Adam and Eve's wrong doing. Yet while Abel's gifts (his best sheep) are accepted, Cain's gifts (his mediocre crops) are not.Cain becomes extremely jealous of the Lords favouritism of Abel which thus puts him in a rage, eventually resulting in Cain murdering his competition. The Lord chose to punish Cain with the feeling of guilt, giving him a mark that protected him from being killed whilst he wandered after being forever banished from his home land.

a) The most obvious relationship that this story holds in literature is that of sibling rivalry. Cain and Abel are two brothers who constantly compete for the acceptance of a higher power. b) The next concept is that of good vs. evil. This is a very obvious example of the protagonist vs. antagonist that exsists in almost every form of literature today. c) Next is the concept of jealousy and punishment for our 'sins'. Because this is a biblical tale, the factor of religion plays a huge part in the stories' place in other literary works. The Lord punishes Cain for his sin by placing him with a physical mark as well as the feeling of guilt, which is a concept that appears in many other stories (including Frankenstein!)
 * Place in Literature:** The story of Cain and Abel is extremely significant in literature because of these main concepts:

Novelist Jeffrey Archer also wrote a modernized version of the story, called Kane and Abel, which tells the story of two brothers separated at birth who, unaware of their kinship, spend their lives as business rivals.
 * Allusions in Literature:** The story of Cain and Abel is one that is widely known and has great moral and cultural significance. As such, it shows up in many works of literature. The first is in that of an important poet that we know pretty well: Lord Byron! He re-wrote the story of Cain and Abel in the perspective of Cain, making Abel the antagonist as opposed to the other way around. Another place where the story of Cain and Abel has obvious influence is in John Steinbeck's //East of Eden.// The main characters of this story, named Cal and Aron, are the sons of a wealthy man named Adam, whose love they are both trying to win. A relationship of jealousy develops between the two brothers and Cal indirectly causes Aron's death.




 * Tip-Offs:** Certain tip-offs that commonly signify allusion to the story of Cain and Abel include Fratricide, betrayal, sibling rivalry, badges of shame (the Mark of Cain), good/evil, jealousy, and denial of one's sins.


 * Important Biblical Quote:** "And the lord said unto Cain, 'where is Abel, thy brother? And he said'I know knot: Am I my brothers keeper?''". This quote is important because Cain tries to deny his sin to God himself. Hopeless denial can be seen as an element in countless stories and it almost always ends up making situations worse for the characters (As it did with Cain, since his lies only made god angrier).


 * Contemporary Example of a Cain and Abel Allusion (Sibling Rivalry):**

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 * WARNING: CONTAINS SOME PROFANITY (THOUGH IT IS BLEEPED OUT)**