Human Motivation In East Of Eden

In East of Eden, Cathy Ames is constructed to represent the incarnation of evil. In East of Eden, Cathy is portrayed as a corrupt adaptation of the biblical Eve, who is perceived by the Christian tradition as the mother of mankind. Although Eve is not described as evil, she is the one who invited evil in the world by accepting a suspicious apple from a dishonest snake. As a result, Eve is often associated with sin, but whereas Eve is deceived into committing sin, Cathy embraces it and commits evil simply as a means to inflict pain. The character is overly enticed with evil: she believes that there is only evil in the world and therefore fully commits herself to it.

From the very beginning, Charles Trask is is suspicious of Cathy when she shows up to the Trask’s farm. Charles even states, “You know what I think? I don’t think I’m half as mean as you are under that nice skin. I think you’re a devil” (116). Also, on the way home, Samuel Hamilton remembers the eyes of a criminal who was being executed. He realizes that Cathy’s eyes were similar to the criminals and that she also had evil traits. Lee recognizes Cathy’s evil when working for her as a servant. However, Adam is not able to recognize this because he only sees Cathy as what he wants her to be and not for what she actually is. For example, when Adam and Cathy move to the Salinas Valley, Adam thinks that Cathy wants to go and is a good wife, but Cathy does not actually want to go. Also, Cathy tries to kill her baby because she doesn’t want children, but Adam is happy and overjoyed when he finds out that Cathy is pregnant. In addition, the only people who Cathy fears are the people who are able to see her true self, like Samuel Hamilton, Charles Trask, and Lee, but takes advantage of people who are unable to see this quality of her, like Adam Trask and Mr.

“To the inner monster it must be even more obscure since he has no visible thing to compare with others. ” (pg71) Cathy is evil on the inside where she can hide her devilish plans. She is born to deceive those around her and feigns innocence. The high standards of becoming good that was being pushed upon her by her parents made Cathy become evil without anyone knowing. Forcing the good upon evil only aggravates the means of defense for

Throughout the novel of East of Eden, John Steinbeck reveals Cathy’s immoral personality through her physical appearance and her actions.

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).

Power and control is something that all humans strive for however it can corrupt those who obtain it. This is prevalent in all aspects of society, those who have control over a person or a group of people can do horrible thing to fuel their ego or for their own personal gain. This point is also made in many literary works, for example the short stories “There Not Your Husband” and the “Road out of Eden” both portrays this message. “There Not Your Husband” follows Earl a husband lost his job and has his ego broken so to build himself up he takes control of his wife's weight, but in the process causes her to lose the weight in an unhealthy way. This is similar to the “Road out of Eden” that follows a group of boys that are getting bullied but begin to fight back and strive for power over their bully, however this lead to some unforeseen issues. Ultimately “There Not Your Husband” and the “Road out of Eden” both illustrate how people who desire power because of their ego can do terrible things once they obtain it, this is prevalent throughout the pursuit of power by the characters, the symbolism of dominance that are prevalent throughout the story, and the characters motivations.

The main way in which Steinbeck shows the theme of good versus evil is the character’s divergent personalities. The main good character of the novel is Samuel Hamilton, a poor farmer who raised nine children on little to no income. Despite the fact that his customers do not pay him money for his labor – blacksmithing, well digging – he is still gracious and kind to everyone he meets. He sees through Cathy’s façade to the true core of her evilness. Cathy Ames is the evil character who has no conscious as she uses Adam Trask (protagonist) to move to Salinas after sleeping with his brother, trying to abort her babies, shooting Adam in the shoulder and leaving him alone with their twin sons, and secretly killing a brothel owner so she can take control. She is described as being “as close to pure evil as one is likely to get this side of hell” (Aubrey). Adam is always struggling between these two characters in the novel, representing his personal struggle with good versus evil. He is enamored with Cathy, or who he thinks Cathy is, and is left in an extreme state of depression upon

Her father, being overly approving of his daughter, ignores any warnings of malevolent intent. Cathy’s use of kerosene, foreshadowing an arrangement to set fire to her house, goes overlooked by her parents because of their focus on her respectable actions of helping around the house. Their blindness toward her evil objective results in oblivion to warning indications, ultimately causing their deaths. In addition to this, Cathy’s childhood Latin teacher James Grew failed to recognize malice: “I could always make people do what I wanted. When I was half-grown I made a man kill himself.

Cathy’s parents never understood why their daughter was different nor what exactly made her that way. "Mr. Ames came in contact with other children away from his home and he felt that Cathy was not like other children. It was a matter more felt than known. He was uneasy about his daughter but he could not have said why" (528). Cathy was different from others, much of the book is devoted to examining this difference, but no answers are ever found. "The trouble is that since we cannot know what she wanted, we will never know whether or not she got it" (603). There are other characters in the book that evolve similarly; with unknown reasons to be the way the become.

Adam’s goodness may be the preferred trait one would prefer to inherit, however it ends up being the downfall of him because it prevents him from seeing a person for who they really are. His kind nature ultimately is the reason he is able to be tricked by Cathy’s manipulative ways. However, after believing he is left with nothing and letting himself wallow in self pity, the honorable and wise Samuel Hamilton reminds him of an important story. Mr. Hamilton reminds Adam that King James of the bible once said, “thou salt prevail over sin”, however it is up to the man to rise above his pain and mistakes. Adam, still feeling sorry for himself, is hesitant to believe Samuel’s advice. However, after making a visit to his wife Cathy in her new life as a whore, he finally realizes he can be okay with out her. He realizes that his children deserve a father better than one who is in love with a whore. He sees through Cathy’s manipulation and decides that he can live happily with what he has. Adam confirms his choice to overcome Cathy saying, “I seemed to come out of a sleep, in some strange way my eyes have been cleared. A weight is off me”(Steinbeck 328). Adam rises above the Cathy he once idolized and allows himself to see who she really is. In result not only does he realize the improved Eden he can build with his sons, he proves that the power to overcome his destiny lays within one self. Adam, however is not the only Trask who proves this possible, Cal

Although Cathy was a “monster”, it’s hard not to pity her inability to face fate any other way than

Steinbeck wrote a majority of his novel East of Eden to mirror biblical tales like Adam and Eve or Cain and Abel. Within these tales there is a destructive force that drives the characters to do evil things. In the novel, Cathy is fully aware of this evil in the world that persuades people. But instead of trying to counteract it, she embraces it and becomes the evil force herself. Her only motivation is be in control, and her need for power is so strong that she lacks any humanity, which sharply contrasts the consistently positive character Samuel. Even in her final moments, where we expect Cathy to show any sign of her goodwill, she commits her last evil act.

When confronted by Adam for the first time since she shot him, Cathy (Kate) admits to thinking that she is more than human and that she is invincible: “I’d rather be a dog than a human. But I’m not a dog. I’m smarter than humans. Nobody can hurt me. Don’t worry about danger” (321). Cathy believes that because she feels nothing and has no emotions that she is a superior being. By being unattached from the world, she is living a smarter life. Cathy believed that caring only for herself and not feeling emotion was a strength, where in reality, it was her only weakness. This weakness can be looked at as a disability. When Cathy is first introduced in the book, the narrator compares a lack of emotion to physical disability: “I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents. SOme you can see, misshapen and horrible, with huge heads or tiny bodies; some are born with no arms, no legs, some with three arms, some with tails or mouths at odd places… As a child may be born without an arm, so one may be born without kindness or the potential of a conscience” (71). Despite not having any physically crippling attributes, Cathy’s lack of a conscience is equally as crippling. By thinking she is a more superior being, and not someone with a mental disability, she is destroying

Though Adam is favored by many throughout the book, he experiences rejection by those closest to him. The first rejection he feels is by his brother, Charles Trask. Through most of their childhood, Charles dislikes Adam because their father favors him. He is jealous of the relationship between Adam and their father because he tries so hard to please his father, but his father chooses Adam. Charles’ jealousy is seen when he confronts Adam after their father and Adam had a secret talk: “‘What did you do on his birthday? You think I didn’t see? Did you spend six bits or even four bits? You brought him a mongrel pup you picked up in a woodlot. You laughed like a fool and said it would make a good bird dog. That dog sleeps in his room… And where’s the knife? ‘Thanks,” [their father] said, just ‘Thanks’” (29). Charles believes that Adam does not even have to try to receive their father’s love, while Charles has to work his hardest to get any kind of recognition. Another person that rejects Adam is Cathy Trask, Adam’s wife. From the start of their relationship, Adam sees Cathy in a light that is not true to who she is. He sees her as the perfect wife that agrees with everything he says and wants to achieve the same dreams as he does. But this false notion of Cathy causes her to reject Adam. After moving across the country against her will and having children with Adam, Cathy believes she is ready to leave him. She tells Adam this, but he does not take it well and tries to convince her to stay. She replies “I don’t give a damn what you believe. I’m going… I can do anything to you. Any woman can do anything to you. You’re a fool” (199). She shoots Adam before leaving her twins and their house behind. Because Adam holds Cathy on a pedestal and continually

After the children were petrified of the grandmother, they tried to do all that she requested and obey all her rules. Until one day Cathy was admiring her body and Christopher who was drawn by Cathy’s complexion came up to her and told her she was