Cyrus Trask As A Monster In East Of Eden

Not only does Cathy use her erotic ways to get what she desires, but she also uses physical pain and eventually, murder. After fighting with her father about Cathy’s attempt at running away, Cathy had had enough. One night Cathy leaves an apron in the oven of her house, locks all the doors, steals her father’s money, and leaves her parents to die in her childhood home, erupting into flames. Enjoying every second of her act and not feeling any remorse, Cathy’s cheeks “were bright with color and her eyes shone and her mouth turned up in its small childlike smile” (85). The murder of her parents is Cathy’s first real act of evil that Steinbeck shows in the book, showing how much hatred she is capable of and the extent to which she will go to get her way.

Love waxes timeless. It is passionate and forbidden and a true head rush. Marriage, on the other hand, is practical, safe, a ride up the socioeconomic ladder. In "The Other Paris," Mavis Gallant weaves the tale of Carol and Howard, a fictional couple who stand on the verge of a loveless marriage, to symbolize the misguided actions of the men and women in the reality of the 1950s, the story's setting. By employing stereotypical, ignorant, and altogether uninteresting characters, Gallant highlights the distinction between reality and imagination and through the mishaps and lack of passion in their courtship mockingly comments on society?s views of love and marriage.

Learning that Hugh has not been home yet, Deborah rushes off to the mill with food for him, her fatigue vanished in the face of her desire to care for Hugh. It soon becomes even more apparent to infer from Deborah’s “painful eagerness” to please him that she is in love with Hugh (8). In these opening pages we see not only Deborah’s affection for Hugh, but that this affection is merited: for we see also Hugh’s gentle nature as he does what he can to protect Janey and to care for Deborah by sending her to sleep on the warm iron ash until he can take her home at the end of his shift (8). Yet, as Deborah watches Hugh work, she acknowledges that “in spite of all his kindness, . . . there was that in her face and form which made him loathe the sight of her. . . . [D]own under all the vileness and coarseness of his life, there was a groping passion for whatever was beautiful and pure” (9). The initial use of Deborah as a focal character, then, allows the revelation of Hugh as a kind human being who is loved by those to whom he shows kindness; it also establishes his artistic love of beauty and thus strengthens the effect of his kindness to the hunchbacked Deborah.

Another way the idea of good versus evil is expressed is by the internal conflicts of the characters. Cathy is good example of a character that has an inner conflict of good versus evil. Cathy, the most evil of all in this novel, kills her parents, manipulates Adam and Charles, attempts to abort her children, shoots Adam, abandons her twin sons once they are born, and murders Faye, her friend and boss. However, the good in Cathy overcomes the bad. By the end of the novel she becomes religious and she leaves all of her fortune to her son. Charles is also a good example of a character struggling with inner conflict. Whenever Adam beats him in a game, Charles becomes very abusive towards him; once he almost kills Adam. However, Charles also protects Adam from others and he does, in fact, love him. He "fought any boy who ... slurred Adam and ... protected Adam from his father's harshness" (Steinbeck 491). Adam is forced to join the service and is sent to war, Charles tries to keep in touch with him by writing letters. In

Cathy, the twin’s mother, insists that there is only evil in the world, and immersed herself into taking advantage of other people’s flaws and weaknesses. Cathy also had that freedom of choice, but she always made the wrong decision and remained the totally evil character throughout the novel.

A central question raised by John Steinbeck’s East of Eden is whether it is possible to triumph over evil, answered by the discussion of free will and inherited sin. The idea of “timshel” is canvassed through the struggles of Caleb “Cal” Trask. The concept of inherited sin is illustrated through the actions of Cyrus Trask, Charles Trask, and Cathy/Kate Trask.

Her attractive persona and florid speech resulted in an initial impression of kindness and candor, though what lies beneath is hardly approachable. The one part of Cathy’s outwardly appearance that exposed her was the coldness in her eyes. Samuel Hamilton describes this phenomenon, saying, “There was nothing recognizable behind them,” and that “They were not human eyes,” (C). Cathy’s eyes are the window to her soul and represent her cold, haughty view of the world. Her soul is the the embodiment of whom Cathy really is thus, the real Cathy controls her environment, this controlling comes from the fear of being exposed. Charles recognized and saw through Cathy’s persona and therefore did not trust her blatantly stating to Adam, “I wouldn’t trust her with a bit piece,” (B). Charles saw the dangers of trusting Cathy due to her deceptive and manipulative ways that he easily recognized. He was able to see past her beguiling appearance and saw her as the inveigler she truly was. Although Samuel and Charles were able to see past Cathy, others such as Adam were not able to see her carefully crafted

Therefore showing, Cathy had no liking of Samuel or her children and could not stand to be cared for. She had a way of destroying the life of anyone who crossed paths with her, and by biting Samuel’s hand, caused his livelihood to decline. Comparatively, later on in life Cathy ends up with the “fingers of both hands [constantly] bandaged”, due to severe arthritis (192). Cathy lived her life always harming others, with no guilt or regret and this was her punishment.

C. I will argue, first, that Eve’s scene alludes to Ovid's myth of Narcissus. Second I dispute interpretations that view Eve’s actions as a narcissistic impulse,

In the short story, The Old Chevalier by Isak Dinsen, the male protagonist, Baron von Brackel reflects on his past sexual encounters with two women whose personalities are extremely different from one another. In many novels, short stories and comics authors would create two women as “polar opposites” for a man’s sexual and/or possessive gaze, which is evident in the text. In order to understand, why a man may be attracted to different character traits in women, I will examine The Baron’s attraction to Nathalie and The Mistress by looking at how literary works men portray women, what they find attractive and the fulfilment that men seek from a woman.

In Margaret Atwood’s “Lusus Naturae”, a young girl/ monster is hidden away from the world because her family will not accept her appearance. While her parents thought keeping her locked up in the house was a beneficial decision, she became isolated and lacked the knowledge and understanding of the world outside her four walls. Even though “Lusus Naturae” is a dark, twisted, and frightening tale there is more to the story than just a “freak of nature” being hidden from the world. One must read the story more in depth and closer to illustrate the themes of women’s roles in society in relation to the monster. Margaret Atwood uses symbolic parallels and narrative tones to exemplify her views of women’s historical roles in society.

love” makes evident Chaucer’s skewed views of love and marriage with underlying tones of misogyny. He expresses these views throughout the work, however, the theme of love and sex is most evident in the sub-stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale.

Cathy-Kate combines many biblical figures as well.  She is not only Eve, but she is Cain’s wife and the serpent of Eden as well (Fonterose, Joseph.  p.3380).  Thus she is the representation of evil too.  Cathy is evil to the point where she is not human.   Her presence in the novel is meant to represent evil and all of its cruel intentions.  All of her deeds are intended to show how far from the real world Cathy actually is (Howard, Levant. p. 245).  Steinbeck compares Cathy to other prostitutes in Salinas Valley, the setting of East of Eden.  She is described as the only whore who is incapable of being a good person.  She is an inhuman being whose life revolves around cruelty and wrongdoing.  She is solely satanic and destroys the innocence of man (Marks, Jay Lester. p. 126-127).

Cathy could see no good in the world or in any of the other characters. She believed that there was only evil in the world and therefore surrenders herself to it fully. Cathy is portrayed as a wicked fiend who's aggression comes from practically nowhere but her own empty heart, but other times Cathy appears weak and afraid of people who weren’t the least bit intimidating. These are moments when we have to stop and think if she really is truly evil, or just an impatient and self-centered person. Cathy’s upbringing had no real play as to why she manipulated and deceived so many people. Her parents always showed her love and tried the best they could to educate and entertain her. There was nothing horrible in her childhood that would have given her an excuse as to why she was the way she was. Cathy was just not the typical child. She was very different from other children; it could be argued that she was born evil and was just a result of nature.

Esquivel showed love in a whole other aspect from life in the movie and novel “Like Water for Chocolate”. This movie and novel is about monthly installments with recipes, romances, and home remedies. Love was very powerful and changed everybody’s life, it kept some people around, made some people leave and it even made some people die. Love is something that can take over someone’s mind, soul and body. When two people are in love no one and nothing can get in the way of those two individuals from being together. When you’re in love you’ll do just about anything to keep yourself and the one you love happy. For example in “Like Water for Chocolate” Pedro was so in love with Tita that’s when it came time