East Of Edden Character Analysis
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said that “the battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” East of Eden is a novel written by twentieth century author John Steinbeck. The Viking Press published it in 1952. The narration takes place from 1862 to 1918, mostly in the Salinas Valley, although some episodes happen in Massachusetts and Connecticut. John Steinbeck's East of Eden depicts humanity's struggle between virtue and in as a perpetual narrative of human history. Cathy Ames, the most controversial character in the novel, seems to be the only person of the book incapable of good: she has the characteristics of a born moral monster. She is not. The events that took place in her childhood affected Cathy. We will then see
…show more content…
Following her Latin teacher’s suicide, Cathy runs away from home and due to this, is severely whipped. During the spanking, the young girl again manipulates her dad in order to stop the whipping, as we can see, she “screamed, writhed, cried, begged, and the blows instantly became lighter” (83). Steinbeck describes this using an enumeration to emphasize Cathy’s power over people, who in reality does not seem to suffer. Her eyes and her face are indeed constantly describes as “cold” and “calm,” which shows that Cathy not only controls other people, but must also control herself to be convincing. Although the girl seems to have won, she has not. She finally realizes that her parents have power over her, and are the only people she cannot use her sexuality against. Only they can withstand her. Moreover, Cathy believes they are the only ones who do not see her for whom she really is-evil. She is already “past sixteen” but they see her as a “baby,” although Cathy is, at that point, already self-aware of whom she is. She begins to hate them, as they are the exact opposite of her. They are good. She then decides to dispose of them. However, she must first fool them. Indeed, The passage preceding Cathy’s parricide depicts Cathy as a changed person. Catherine is illustrated through the semantic field of success and beauty “thoughtful,” (83) “good student,” (83) “smarter,” (84) “beautiful,” (84) “fresh” (85) and “pretty” (85). Her parents have then absolutely no idea of what will happen next. Steinbeck describes the fire as one that “rose, flared, roared, crashed and crumbled,” personifying the fire as an animal through this enumeration (85). It magnifies the fact that there is no way out for the Ames. Cathy, furthermore, decides to fake her own death: the coroners and helpers “could find no tooth or bone” (86). Through this, Cathy realizes that by
Following her Latin teacher’s suicide, Cathy runs away from home and due to this, is severely whipped. During the spanking, the young girl again manipulates her dad in order to stop the whipping, as we can see, she “screamed, writhed, cried, begged, and the blows instantly became lighter” (83). Steinbeck describes this using an enumeration to emphasize Cathy’s power over people, who in reality does not seem to suffer. Her eyes and her face are indeed constantly describes as “cold” and “calm,” which shows that Cathy not only controls other people, but must also control herself to be convincing. Although the girl seems to have won, she has not. She finally realizes that her parents have power over her, and are the only people she cannot use her sexuality against. Only they can withstand her. Moreover, Cathy believes they are the only ones who do not see her for whom she really is-evil. She is already “past sixteen” but they see her as a “baby,” although Cathy is, at that point, already self-aware of whom she is. She begins to hate them, as they are the exact opposite of her. They are good. She then decides to dispose of them. However, she must first fool them. Indeed, The passage preceding Cathy’s parricide depicts Cathy as a changed person. Catherine is illustrated through the semantic field of success and beauty “thoughtful,” (83) “good student,” (83) “smarter,” (84) “beautiful,” (84) “fresh” (85) and “pretty” (85). Her parents have then absolutely no idea of what will happen next. Steinbeck describes the fire as one that “rose, flared, roared, crashed and crumbled,” personifying the fire as an animal through this enumeration (85). It magnifies the fact that there is no way out for the Ames. Cathy, furthermore, decides to fake her own death: the coroners and helpers “could find no tooth or bone” (86). Through this, Cathy realizes that by