A dictionary.com search for immortal/immortality brings back the phrase "not subject to death" in the majority of definitions. It is clear from genesis II that humans are at least subject to death. God warns the humans that if they eat from the Tree of Knowledge they "must die, yes, die" (Gen 2:17). This is direct implication that death is possible for the human beings, and therefore proves them to be mortal. The statement is further reiterated by Eve when she explains to the snake that "you are not to eat from "the tree" and you are not to touch it, lest you die" (Gen 3:3). This further shows that fear of death, something god has made real but not imminent, is instilled in the human mind.
It is obvious that after eating the fruit, there is no chance of immortality when god says "to dust you will return (Gen 3:19). Following this is the more interesting statement when God says "take also from the Tree of Life and eat and live throughout the ages" (Gen 3:22). God seems to be referring to humanity living throughout the ages here, and is extending a sort of immortal aspect to the human race. However, this comment also implies that before eating from the tree of life, the first humans were not welcomed to live throughout the ages. This provides more concrete evidence that the first humans were mortal.
There were two instances of mortality issues in Genesis 1 that i found worth considering. The first was the statement that "God greated humankind in his image" (Gen 1:27). This ridiculously controversial statement has been assessed to death, so all i will attempt to say is that God is obviously immortal, and that immortality may or may not have been conferred to humankind given the phrase "in his image." Four lines later a line seems to support the opposite claim, mortality: "Bear fruit and be many and fill the earth" (Gen 3:28). Forgive me for taking a scientific approach to a very non-scientific story, but filling the earth and sustaining a population must coincide with death. I highly doubt God intended humans to repoduce and live immortally untill the earth's carrying capacity was reached, at which point God would step in and find a solution to the overpopulation problem.
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Your comments are a little facile. The standard response to the fact that they didn't die right away (to save face for God) is to claim that they lost the immortality with which they had been endowed at creation (wouldn't a benevolent creator have ...) and became mortal and would eventually die. This becomes the problem we must deal with, so we have to look more closely at other details in the story and the story as a whole.
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