Mcnab’s principles on patterns in nature can be used to visualize East of Eden. A significant portion of the novel is dedicated to the meticulous description of the Salinas Valley- the sights, sounds, smells, colors, and seasonal nature. Mcnab explains how patterns in nature are fundamental to human intuition and thus give us the ability to communicate.
Recognition of how things connect allows us to rearrange pattern into versions that anticipate consequences. Through his intense description of the Salinas valley, Steinbeck gives the reader perhaps subliminal clues to future events for the characters. The deliberate use of natural patterns exemplifies Calvino’s fourth quality, exactitude.
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