Cathy Ames (character)
Encyclopedia
Cathy Ames serves as the main antagonist in John Steinbeck
's Pulitzer Prize
winning novel East of Eden. In the early Christian Era, the name Cathy was associated with the Greek word “katharos” meaning purity
or chastity
. No other name could be more ironic considering Cathy’s character which is coined by Steinbeck as a “psychic monster”. Sexual sadism and a love for cruelty list only a few of the many horrors demonstrated by what literary critics consider Steinbeck’s most fascinating character.
Shortly after the divorce, Steinbeck read Raoul Faure’s novel Lady Godiva and Master Tom in which the main character, Lady Godiva
, resembles some of the same sexually perverse characteristics as Cathy. Both are blond, thin, small-breasted and exhibit hatred towards their respective husbands. By reading about Lady Godiva, his somewhat misogynist views were enlarged, thus planting the idea for the character Cathy Ames.
However, the literal character did not emerge until 1951. Steinbeck wrote a series of letters, known as The Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, to his editor Pascal Covici
during the process of writing East of Eden. On March 26, Steinbeck first mentions Cathy to Covici: “This is a woman and you must know her; know her completely because she is a tremendously powerful force in the book.” The majority of these letters demonstrate that Steinbeck was most fascinated with Cathy’s character mentioning once that he must get back to writing about his “dear Cathy.” This fascination arose from the difficulty he found in making her both believable and terrifying.
However, as the novel progresses, Cathy becomes increasingly less attractive and more demon-like. She develops arthritis
in her hands, in the end she is described as “a sick ghost.””
For the remainder of her teenage years, Cathy spends her time building a fake trust relationship with her parents. She attends school and even certifies to become a school teacher, a noble profession. Consequently, her parents trust her enough to give her the combination to the family safe. To repay their love, she intentionally burns down her house murdering her parents who were still inside.
She then runs away from her home town and entrances a whoremaster by the name of Mr. Edwards. The two become lovers for a time up until Mr. Edwards has had enough of Cathy challenging his masculinity
and consequently attempts to murder
her. Cathy survives the event and is later rescued by Adam Trask (the main protagonist in the novel). As Adam nurses Cathy back to health, he succumbs to her beauty and resolves to marry her. Cathy consents to do so, not because she loves him but rather to exploit his noble intentions protect herself from another Mr. Edwards incident. Part one ends with her drugging Adam into a deep sleep and then having an affair
with his brother Charles.
on herself by using a knitting needle. She ultimately fails and decides to carry on with the pregnancy although she has no desire to be a mother. After giving birth to twin sons, she leaves her family highlighted by shooting Adam in the shoulder.
Cathy then changes her name to Kate and joins a whorehouse. Kate wins the affections of Faye, the madame of the brothel
. Faye is deceived by Kate’s ploy to act as the perfect daughter, and consequently bestows to Kate all her worldly possessions in her will.
Faye then falls deathly ill and Kate starts to assume control over the whorehouse while pretending to care for Faye. In actuality, Kate poisons Faye by overdosing her on pain medication. Faye is described as a figure whose “skin had shrunk, clinging to jaw and skull, and her eyes were huge and vacant” to imply that Kate has in a way absorbed the life out of her, like a parasite. Kate then assumes full ownership of the whorehouse.
and weakness
. She vocally reveals her motives for the first time. In such, she admits that she manipulated people for her entertainment: “I knew them. I could make them do whatever I wanted…when I was half-grown I made a man kill himself.” She then rants on how the world is full of evil by showing Adam pictures of multiple public figures, including a Congressman and a priest
, who visit the whorehouse and states that she’d “rather be a dog than a human.” Cathy attempts to seduce him but she becomes infuriated when Adam successfully resists her temptations.
Later on, Adam returns to give Kate fifty-thousand dollars left to her by Charles. She is confused as to why Adam would show fairness and refuses to believe in the sincerity
of Adam’s actions. Adam then makes the following remark about Kate: “And the men who come to you here with their ugliness, the men in the pictures—you don’t believe those men could have goodness or beauty in them. You see only one side, and you think—more than that, you’re sure—that’s all there is.” Kate can’t love or see the goodness in others, and Adam pities her.
Soon, the truth of Faye’s murder starts to surface and Kate fears of being found out. She covers the truth up by framing the ones who know of her murder, Joe and Ethel. At this point, she loses the will to live, especially when she is visited by her second son Aron who is disgusted by her. Literary critic Sarah Aguiar notes that this incident causes Kate to feel remorse
for the first time.
Cathy-Kate signs over all her possessions to Aron, simply because she admires his goodness, and, unable to cope with the remorse, commits suicide by drinking poison
. She dies with a full knowledge and terror of her actions.
with the Bible
and the battle between good and evil. In talking to one of his family’s friends Allen Ludden, Steinbeck states that “Kate is a total representative of Satan
” giving notion that The Devil is manifested through Cathy. Cathy is also endowed with certain “monstrous” tendencies, such as a gift for lying and a deep understanding of man’s sexual weaknesses.
As noted by John Timmerman, Steinbeck demonstrates the devil allegory through repeated snake
-like imagery used to describe Cathy. In one instance in the novel, Samuel Hamilton observes that “when she swallowed , her tongue flicked around her lips…the eyes were flat and the mouth with its small up-curve at the corners was carven” giving a serpent-like air to Cathy’s demeanor.
From the Bible, it is also apparent that the Devil is a master of half-truths. In Genesis, he manipulates Eve
through telling her that if she ate the fruit she should “not surely die” but “shall be as [a god], knowing good and evil” in which the former statement is a lie while the latter a truth. As indicated by the narrator “she told the best lie of all—the truth” in order to manipulate others. For example, she would seduce men of high rank promising them the pleasures of sex, but keep hidden her motives for blackmailing them in the future.
persona
from classic Greek mythology
. The story goes that Zeus
gave Pandora a box and commanded her not to open it. She ultimately disobeys and when she opens the box, she sets loose evil into the world. In an academic article from the The Explicator, Rebecca Barnes analyzes that Cathy is like Pandora in that her “broken box brings disaster” wherever she goes. In the novel Cathy literally destroys every life she touches: she murders her parents, drives her Latin teacher to commit suicide, shoots her husband, and sadistically abuses countless men as a prostitute.
, and death. Throughout the novel, she consistently overly refers to women older than her as “dear Mother” in order to create a sarcastic tone towards motherhood.
behind Cathy Ames. In Stephen George’s article “The Emotional Content of Cruelty”, he argues that hatred and fear are the main motivators behind a person’s cruelty. In Cathy’s case, she fears losing control of her situation. Her method of controlling her environment comes in the form of paranoia which is manifested by her desire to manipulate men sexually in a physical and psychic manner. The hatred she feels in effect subdues her fear so that she feels superior to those she manipulates.
In another critical essay entitled “No Sanctuary” by Sarah Aguiar, Cathy’s actions are due to a depravity of human virtues such as compassion and love. Aguiar explains this lack due to Cathy’s “child-like egocentricity…the desperate need…to protect herself at all costs.” John Steinbeck further comments in his East of Eden letters that Cathy is in part evil because her “life is one of revenge on other people because of a vague feeling of her own lack.” This is significant because it reveals a common theme in East of Eden: that men choose who they want to be, not some unseen force. Cathy chose to be ignorant to the human side of love and this is what in effect brings about her demise.
of evil elicited in Cathy’s character truly resonates to a universal audience.
Actress Jo Van Fleet
received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her role as Cathy Ames in the 1955 film adaptation of East of Eden.
In 1982, Jane Seymour
received a Best Actress Golden Globe award
for her performance of Cathy Ames in the ABC mini-series adaptation of East of Eden.23 In an interview with Oprah Winfrey
, Seymour commented that “there is nothing greater than playing evil incarnate. It is wonderful! It is an amazing experience, because you climb into a spirit or a soul that you have no idea you know, you can't even imagine it.”
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning novel East of Eden. In the early Christian Era, the name Cathy was associated with the Greek word “katharos” meaning purity
Purity
Purity is the absence of impurity or contaminants in a substance or abstinence from vices in human character.Purity may also refer to:*Purity , an indication of the amount of other gases in a particular gas...
or chastity
Chastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
. No other name could be more ironic considering Cathy’s character which is coined by Steinbeck as a “psychic monster”. Sexual sadism and a love for cruelty list only a few of the many horrors demonstrated by what literary critics consider Steinbeck’s most fascinating character.
Concept and creation
As primarily gathered from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, notes and comments indicate John Steinbeck gained some fairly negative views towards women. In 1948, Steinbeck went through a tragic divorce with Gwyndolen Congor which he often notes as the “darkest period of his life.” In one memorandum written to Bo Beskow, he noted that “she killed my love of her with little cruelties…I’m pretty much bruised now.” In another letter to Webster F. Street he stated, “I am inhibiting her and she can’t stand me” signifying his apparent sorrow and loss of confidence.Shortly after the divorce, Steinbeck read Raoul Faure’s novel Lady Godiva and Master Tom in which the main character, Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva
Godiva , often referred to as Lady Godiva , was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants...
, resembles some of the same sexually perverse characteristics as Cathy. Both are blond, thin, small-breasted and exhibit hatred towards their respective husbands. By reading about Lady Godiva, his somewhat misogynist views were enlarged, thus planting the idea for the character Cathy Ames.
However, the literal character did not emerge until 1951. Steinbeck wrote a series of letters, known as The Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, to his editor Pascal Covici
Pascal Covici
Pascal Avram "Pat" Covici was a Romanian Jewish-American book publisher and editor.- Early life :Pascal Avram Covici, known to his friends as "Pat," was born November 4, 1885 in Botoşani, Romania. He was the son of vintner Wolf Covici and Schfra Barish...
during the process of writing East of Eden. On March 26, Steinbeck first mentions Cathy to Covici: “This is a woman and you must know her; know her completely because she is a tremendously powerful force in the book.” The majority of these letters demonstrate that Steinbeck was most fascinated with Cathy’s character mentioning once that he must get back to writing about his “dear Cathy.” This fascination arose from the difficulty he found in making her both believable and terrifying.
Physical description
Steinbeck first introduces Cathy as a child. She is depicted as small-breasted, delicate, blonde and beautiful. Her skin is “oil-soaked” in order to give her a “pearly-light” and a sense of allurement. The child-like innocence reflected in her countenance becomes the perfect contrast to her inner character. Consequently, Samuel Hamilton, another character in the novel, takes note that “the eyes of Cathy had no message, no communication…they were not human eyes” indicating Cathy’s inhumane nature.”However, as the novel progresses, Cathy becomes increasingly less attractive and more demon-like. She develops arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
in her hands, in the end she is described as “a sick ghost.””
Part 1
Throughout Cathy’s childhood, she pointedly causes harm to anyone who holds a relationship with her. Due to her ability to exploit man’s sexual weaknesses, she frames two young boys for attempting to rape her, and also drives her naïve Latin professor to commit suicide by toying with his sexual emotions.For the remainder of her teenage years, Cathy spends her time building a fake trust relationship with her parents. She attends school and even certifies to become a school teacher, a noble profession. Consequently, her parents trust her enough to give her the combination to the family safe. To repay their love, she intentionally burns down her house murdering her parents who were still inside.
She then runs away from her home town and entrances a whoremaster by the name of Mr. Edwards. The two become lovers for a time up until Mr. Edwards has had enough of Cathy challenging his masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
and consequently attempts to murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
her. Cathy survives the event and is later rescued by Adam Trask (the main protagonist in the novel). As Adam nurses Cathy back to health, he succumbs to her beauty and resolves to marry her. Cathy consents to do so, not because she loves him but rather to exploit his noble intentions protect herself from another Mr. Edwards incident. Part one ends with her drugging Adam into a deep sleep and then having an affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
with his brother Charles.
Part 2
After moving to California with Adam, Cathy becomes pregnant (the novel is unclear as to whether by Charles or Adam) and in turn attempts a primitive abortionAbortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
on herself by using a knitting needle. She ultimately fails and decides to carry on with the pregnancy although she has no desire to be a mother. After giving birth to twin sons, she leaves her family highlighted by shooting Adam in the shoulder.
Cathy then changes her name to Kate and joins a whorehouse. Kate wins the affections of Faye, the madame of the brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
. Faye is deceived by Kate’s ploy to act as the perfect daughter, and consequently bestows to Kate all her worldly possessions in her will.
Faye then falls deathly ill and Kate starts to assume control over the whorehouse while pretending to care for Faye. In actuality, Kate poisons Faye by overdosing her on pain medication. Faye is described as a figure whose “skin had shrunk, clinging to jaw and skull, and her eyes were huge and vacant” to imply that Kate has in a way absorbed the life out of her, like a parasite. Kate then assumes full ownership of the whorehouse.
Part 3
The plot then steers away from Kate’s life up until she is visited by her husband Adam. Throughout the scene, she surprisingly shows signs of paradoxically both aggressionAggression
In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
and weakness
Weakness
Weakness is a symptom represented, medically, by a number of different conditions, including: lack of muscle strength, malaise, dizziness, or fatigue. The causes are many and can be divided into conditions that have true or perceived muscle weakness. True muscle weakness is a primary symptom of a...
. She vocally reveals her motives for the first time. In such, she admits that she manipulated people for her entertainment: “I knew them. I could make them do whatever I wanted…when I was half-grown I made a man kill himself.” She then rants on how the world is full of evil by showing Adam pictures of multiple public figures, including a Congressman and a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, who visit the whorehouse and states that she’d “rather be a dog than a human.” Cathy attempts to seduce him but she becomes infuriated when Adam successfully resists her temptations.
Later on, Adam returns to give Kate fifty-thousand dollars left to her by Charles. She is confused as to why Adam would show fairness and refuses to believe in the sincerity
Sincerity
Sincerity is the virtue of one who speaks and acts truly about his or her own feelings, thoughts, and desires.-Sincerity in Western societies:Sincerity has not been consistently regarded as a virtue in Western culture...
of Adam’s actions. Adam then makes the following remark about Kate: “And the men who come to you here with their ugliness, the men in the pictures—you don’t believe those men could have goodness or beauty in them. You see only one side, and you think—more than that, you’re sure—that’s all there is.” Kate can’t love or see the goodness in others, and Adam pities her.
Part 4
Kate is further humiliated when Cal, one of her twin sons, visits. During the chapter, Kate is portrayed in a desperate state of mind as she talks with Cal. Cal’s goodness makes Kate uncomfortable especially when he states his love for his father, Adam: “a curious spasm shook [Kate]—an aching twist tore in her chest.” Cal leaves and tells Kate that she is simply afraid. These words have a profound effect on her and slowly begin to demise.Soon, the truth of Faye’s murder starts to surface and Kate fears of being found out. She covers the truth up by framing the ones who know of her murder, Joe and Ethel. At this point, she loses the will to live, especially when she is visited by her second son Aron who is disgusted by her. Literary critic Sarah Aguiar notes that this incident causes Kate to feel remorse
Remorse
Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or violent. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment...
for the first time.
Cathy-Kate signs over all her possessions to Aron, simply because she admires his goodness, and, unable to cope with the remorse, commits suicide by drinking poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
. She dies with a full knowledge and terror of her actions.
The Devil
One of the main characteristics of East of Eden is the prevalent allegoryAllegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
with the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and the battle between good and evil. In talking to one of his family’s friends Allen Ludden, Steinbeck states that “Kate is a total representative of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
” giving notion that The Devil is manifested through Cathy. Cathy is also endowed with certain “monstrous” tendencies, such as a gift for lying and a deep understanding of man’s sexual weaknesses.
As noted by John Timmerman, Steinbeck demonstrates the devil allegory through repeated snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
-like imagery used to describe Cathy. In one instance in the novel, Samuel Hamilton observes that “when she swallowed , her tongue flicked around her lips…the eyes were flat and the mouth with its small up-curve at the corners was carven” giving a serpent-like air to Cathy’s demeanor.
From the Bible, it is also apparent that the Devil is a master of half-truths. In Genesis, he manipulates Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
through telling her that if she ate the fruit she should “not surely die” but “shall be as [a god], knowing good and evil” in which the former statement is a lie while the latter a truth. As indicated by the narrator “she told the best lie of all—the truth” in order to manipulate others. For example, she would seduce men of high rank promising them the pleasures of sex, but keep hidden her motives for blackmailing them in the future.
Pandora
Cathy also takes on the PandoraPandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts...
persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
from classic Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
. The story goes that Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
gave Pandora a box and commanded her not to open it. She ultimately disobeys and when she opens the box, she sets loose evil into the world. In an academic article from the The Explicator, Rebecca Barnes analyzes that Cathy is like Pandora in that her “broken box brings disaster” wherever she goes. In the novel Cathy literally destroys every life she touches: she murders her parents, drives her Latin teacher to commit suicide, shoots her husband, and sadistically abuses countless men as a prostitute.
Terrible mother
As a whore, Cathy encompasses characteristics of an anti-mother: sexual perversions, fear, darkness, emasculationEmasculation
Emasculation is the removal of the genitalia of a male, notably the penis and/or the testicles.By extension, the word has also come to mean to render a male less of a man, or to make a male feel less of a man by humiliation. This metaphorical usage of the word is much more common than the...
, and death. Throughout the novel, she consistently overly refers to women older than her as “dear Mother” in order to create a sarcastic tone towards motherhood.
Psychoanalysis
One of the main topics amongst literary critics deals with the psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
behind Cathy Ames. In Stephen George’s article “The Emotional Content of Cruelty”, he argues that hatred and fear are the main motivators behind a person’s cruelty. In Cathy’s case, she fears losing control of her situation. Her method of controlling her environment comes in the form of paranoia which is manifested by her desire to manipulate men sexually in a physical and psychic manner. The hatred she feels in effect subdues her fear so that she feels superior to those she manipulates.
In another critical essay entitled “No Sanctuary” by Sarah Aguiar, Cathy’s actions are due to a depravity of human virtues such as compassion and love. Aguiar explains this lack due to Cathy’s “child-like egocentricity…the desperate need…to protect herself at all costs.” John Steinbeck further comments in his East of Eden letters that Cathy is in part evil because her “life is one of revenge on other people because of a vague feeling of her own lack.” This is significant because it reveals a common theme in East of Eden: that men choose who they want to be, not some unseen force. Cathy chose to be ignorant to the human side of love and this is what in effect brings about her demise.
Film adaptations
It’s interesting to note that whenever East of Eden is adapted into a significant film work, the actresses that portray Cathy Ames win awards. The banalityBanality
Banality may refer to:*Banality, the predictability of a system. See Predictability.*The payment serfs were required to make to local nobles in order to use facilities such as mills and looms. See Serfdom....
of evil elicited in Cathy’s character truly resonates to a universal audience.
Actress Jo Van Fleet
Jo Van Fleet
Jo Van Fleet was an American theatre and film actress.-Career:Van Fleet established herself as a notable dramatic actress on Broadway over several years, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for her skill in a difficult role, playing an unsympathetic, even abusive character, in Horton Foote's The Trip to...
received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her role as Cathy Ames in the 1955 film adaptation of East of Eden.
In 1982, Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (actress)
Jane Seymour, OBE is an English actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die , East of Eden , Onassis: The Richest Man in the World , and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman...
received a Best Actress Golden Globe award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for her performance of Cathy Ames in the ABC mini-series adaptation of East of Eden.23 In an interview with Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
, Seymour commented that “there is nothing greater than playing evil incarnate. It is wonderful! It is an amazing experience, because you climb into a spirit or a soul that you have no idea you know, you can't even imagine it.”