East of Eden by John Steinbeck

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 she gets older and wiser, she gets more evil

and displays her monster and animal 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 monster like behavior

in many scenes throughout the book. Steinbeck illustrates Cathy as

being a monster on pages 95 and 96. “I believe 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

life,” said Steinbeck. Cathy used this to her advantage by making

people uneasy, but not so uneasy that they would not run away from her.

Cathy was born with an innocent look that fooled many; she had golden

blond hair, hazel eyes, a thin and delicate nose, and a small chin to

make her face look heart shaped. Acoording 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. On page 114-115,

“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 scoped the place, they noticed

that the bolts stuck out and there were no 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 on page 242, “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 and

runs a whorehouse. While she runs the house, she takes pictures of all

the important male individuals in the town to later send to their

spouses and families. Cathy plans to send the pictures whether they

caused trouble or not.

As Cathy’s character evolves, Steinbeck changes his description

from a monster to an animal.