College of Education for Humanities, University of Tikrit
Abstract
Theories from all fields of knowledge affected the English novel directly or indirectly. This genre has become a platform of all concepts created through the other fields of knowledge. Manichaeism is a religious movement which believed in the association between darkness and evil, light and good. It will be noticed that they deal with the everlasting struggle between good and evil. This doctrine of light-good and dark-evil was the major dogma in Manichaeism. Although Manichaeism died out, its belief in the fight between good and evil can be detected in mostly all English novels. This study inspects Manichaeism in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. In spite of being extinct, its doctrine highlights this principal theme in all literary works.
