Inheritance

At one point, Lee mentions how he finds it amusing that "Adam, the most rigidly honest man it was possible to find, living all his life on stolen money," and how "Aron, whose priority was a little on the self-indulgent side, living all his life on the profits of a whorehouse," (583). It was at this point when I first noticed the fact that three different fortunes are inherited in the Trask family throughout this novel, a fortune was left for Charles and Adam by Cyrus, a fortune was left for Adam and Cathy by Charles, and a fortune was left for Aron by Cathy. When I look at this list, I see that one of the people willed a fortune were considered to be evil and in turn left a fortune at the end of their life, as Charles, considered to be a malicious child who almost killed his own brother, was left a fortune by his father, and in turn left a fortune to his brother and sister-in-law, and the process repeated with Cathy. I believe this inheritance of money is a symbol of evil being passed down from generation to generation, thus creating original sin in the Trask Family. As in Exodus 34:7, "He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."
Throughout the novel, it is constantly mentioned that you need to get lucky and buy a piece of land with accessible water in order to survive and make a fortune. If the inheritance of large fortunes holds true as a symbol for destined evil, then it follows that Samuel has no water available to be pumped out of the ground for a reason. Samuel has managed to live a good, moral life and has raised his family to be eternally righteous while still living hand to mouth.
Wealth is often considered to be symbolic of corruption, as wealthier people see less reason to dedicate their lives to earning God's love and proving their eternal loyalty if they have the opportunity to live as kings on Earth. If Steinbeck is correct in his theory about the "only story in mankind" about the man's constant struggle between good and evil, with God waiting for the people who avoid temptation and live moral lives to ascend into heaven while the rest descend into hell after giving into temptation, wouldn't money be a temptation by the devil just as the serpent tempted Eve? This holds true by the fact that Cathy (symbolizing Eve) was born evil and continuously used her powers of seduction and innocent looks in order to attain the two things she needed, safety and money. She first went to Mr. Edwards because he was a rich and powerful man and she knew she could attain influence and wealth through her seductive techniques and manipulation, then she ended up marrying Adam because she "needed protection and money. Adam could give her both" (121) and finally growing close to and poisoning a Madam in order to gain her fortune before taking her place.
The Trask family inheritance trend began with Cyrus Trask's supposed robbery of his $100,000 fortune from the United States Army, and ended with the last inheritance, composed of profits from the whorehouse where Cathy was a Madam, going to Adam's son, Aron, who dies in World War I before he knows of his mother leaving him a fortune. Aron's death before his knowledge of the fortunate ultimately ends the trend of evil in the Trask family as the only one left to continue the family name is Cal who intends to attempt to live a moral life with Abra, finally free of his family's corruption and can finally make his own decisions and lead his own life.