The book of Genesis
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 bias to the fact that here there were 5 children who are fatherless and had a chance to be motherless as well. The Jury in the case seemed to base their opinions strictly on the fact that there were 5 poor children involved. This is were the difference between Austers grandmother and Eve are drawn. Eve was ultimately punished for her actions where on the other hand Austers grandmother was not and was set free of all charges. This is most likely due to the fact there was a reasonable doubt that Austers grandmother was fully aware of what she was doing, according to the Jury that is. Eve on the other hand was defiantly aware of what she was doing and was just feeding into her curiosity and ultimately had a decision to make.
Anna’s relationship with her sons are ultimately put in an awkward situation and was apparently stressful. The boys did not seem to function properly after the death of their father, and seemed to know the deep dark truth of what actually happened. The behavior of the boys followed them to their adult years and ultimately affected the family that came along later, for example their children. Paul Auster repeatedly states how he never had a tight knit relationship with his father, and that is probably because of Paul Austers fathers traumatic childhood. Anna Austers crime was brutal and traumatic to the whole family and obviously had a lasting effect on the family even though many family members were not directly related to the situation. This is also another similarity to the Adam and Eve story, because of their actions their punishment had a lasting effect on the entire human race even thought the rest of the human race was not directly related to the situation. The punishment for Eve was bestowed upon all women were the would all ultimately have pain where bearing children. On the other hand Adams punishment is that he will have to work hard for his whole life to provide for his family and ultimately all men would have the same punishment. In both stories the actions of one individual will have a lasting effect on their family members.
Finally the two stories draw many comparisons and thus prove that Anna Austers character is directly related to Eve in many instances. There are differences that are also apparent but the characters seem to have many similarities and the effect they had on the people around them. They both seem to also defend their action in the same way and ultimately defend their action by saying that it is because of some unknown force that causes them to commit their mistakes or in other words crimes.