Trauma and Homecoming: Epic Themes in <i>Sweet Thursday</i>

Abstract Sweet Thursday is universally viewed as a sequel that fails to achieve the artistic heights of its predecessor Cannery Row. This article seeks to change how we think of Sweet Thursday, proposing instead that it functions as a thematic sequel not to Cannery Row, but to its immediate chronological predecessor in Steinbeck’s canon, East of Eden. Drawing on themes that form the very foundation of Western myth and literature—war, homecoming, and trauma—this article suggests that Sweet Thursday should take its place among the most remarkable of Steinbeck’s late period works, as it provides the key to unlocking Steinbeck’s struggle with his own work of epic, East of Eden.