Steinbeck's East of Eden

Steinbeck's East of Eden


In the novel , East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Catherine Ames is one of
the main characters.   She is introduced to the reader as a monster and as time
goes on , she possesses both monster like and animal qualities. As Catherine
sher gets older and wiser , she gets more evil and displays her monster and
animals like characteristics. She knows she is powerful and indestructible. She
has manipulated and tricked many people her life causing them to go to the
extreme... death.

Catherine "Cathy" shows her evilness and her moster like behavior in
many scene throughout the book. Steinbeck illustrates Cathy as being a monster ,
"I believed there are monsters born in the world ... It is my belief that Cathy
Ames was born with the tendencies, or lack of them, which drove and forced her
all of her. Cathy was born with an innocent look that fooled many; she had
golden blond hair, hazel eyes, a thin and dedicated nose , and a small chin to
make her face look heart shaped. According to the town Cathy lived, Cathy had a
scent of sweetness, but that is just what Cathy wanted the town to see and think
when Cathy planned her kill; "The fire broke out... the Ames house went up like
a rocket ... Enough remained of Mr. and Mrs. Ames to make sure there were two
bodies ." Cathy had set the house on fire and broke into the safe to steal the
family's money. As the investigators scooped the place, they noticed that the
bolts stuck out and there were on keys left in the locks. They knew it was not
an accident. Cathy's body was never found, but the town assumed that she died.
"If it had not been for Cathy's murder, the fire and robbery might have been a
coincidence. " Steinbeck, again, portrays the reader that Cathy is a monster.
"when I said Cathy was a monster it seemed to me that it was so." Steinbeck is
reassuring the reader that Cathy is a monster and with the evidence before and
after this statement. For example, Cathy later changes her name to Kate... [continues]

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