When we read the commandments translated into English, they are rendered as just that, commandments. But Steinbeck thinks the Hebrew rendering is more accurate, not “Thou shalt” but “Thou mayest.” “Here is individual responsibility and the invention of conscience,” he reflected to his editor as he wrote those pages. “You can if you will but it is up to you. This little story turns out to be one of the most profound in the world. I always felt it was, but now I know it is.”
