Cathy Ames

Cathy Ames, later known as Kate Trask or Kate Albey, is a fictional character and the main antagonist in John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden. She is the wife of main protagonist Adam Trask, and the mother of his twin sons, Caleb and Aron. Beneath her charming, attractive facade, she is an evil woman who manipulates and destroys people for her own amusement and profit. Steinbeck characterizes her as a "psychic monster" with a "malformed soul".

In 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”.

Steinbeck depicts Cathy as small-breasted, delicate, blonde and beautiful, with “oil-soaked” skin that gives her a “pearly-light” and a sense of allurement. Her beauty fools most of the people she encounters, but a few characters detect her true nature by looking into her eyes, which Steinbeck describes as cold and emotionless. Samuel Hamilton, a supporting character in the novel, takes note that “the eyes of Cathy had no message, no communication…they were not human eyes”.

As the novel progresses, Cathy becomes increasingly less attractive. She develops crippling arthritis in her hands, and by the end of the novel she is described as “a sick ghost”.

Throughout Cathy’s childhood, she pointedly causes harm to anyone who holds a relationship with her. She uses her precocious sexuality to manipulate and destroy men; she frames two young boys for attempting to rape her, and drives her naïve Latin professor to commit suicide by toying with his affections. At a young age, she learns to mimic emotions she is incapable of feeling and con people into giving her what she wants. She attempts to run away once, at 16, to Boston, but her father tracks her down and reluctantly whips her as punishment. Afterwards she is a model student, and even certifies to become a school teacher. Consequently, her parents trust her enough to give her the combination to the family safe. Soon afterward, she robs the safe and burns down her family home while her parents are trapped inside, killing them.

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