East Of Eden Character Analysis

Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee that depicts the infamous Scopes Trial. The real names of the persons involved in the case were changed, however, the play recounts the same story. One journalist in the story, E.K. Hornbeck, who is closed-minded, a hypocrite, and very cynical proves that the religious community of Hillsboro is not the only one to be intolerant.

When thinking about the gift offering in the biblical story of Cain and Abel and its impact, one can see many similarities in East of Eden. Cain brought to God “the fruit of the ground” and Abel offered God “the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof” (Gen 4 KJV). God preferred the gift of Abel to the gift of Cain.

East of Eden is a story that is based on the biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Like the story of Adam and Eve, East of Eden has characters that embody Adam and Eve to an extent. While the story of Adam and Eve tells about the beginning of man, how we came to be on this earth, and why we have original sin, East of Eden uses Adam Trask and Cathy Ames as the beginning of a complex and conflicting story of good vs. evil. Adam Trask is presumed to be Adam, good natured and goodhearted, while Cathy is presumed to be Eve. Only while Eve was deceived into committing sin, Cathy embraces it wholeheartedly and commits evil simply for its own sake.

Silence of the Lambs focuses on two main characters with problematic mental disorders: Hannibal Lector and “Buffalo Bill.” Both of these characters appear to have anti-social personality disorder (ASPD). Based on diagnostic criteria from the DSM 5, significant impairments must be present in personality functioning as well as interpersonal functioning. This can be present in either identity or self-direction. These ideas of self-functioning are focused on personal gratification from goals and self-esteem, and result from personal gain, power, or pleasure. This characteristic is present in both characters, as they feel a sense of pleasure and gain from killing their victims. Hannibal Lector would eat body parts of his victims, and Buffalo Bill would collect the skin of his victims. This also demonstrates the characters failing to conform to lawful, ethical behavior. Next, interpersonal functioning impairments are present in empathy or intimacy. Empathy is the lack of feelings or remorse for others, which is vividly seen in Hannibal Lector’s scenes throughout the movie. For example, after Lector has killed the police officers in his cell, he stands around, swaying as music plays, content with what he has just done, instead of feeling bad or guilty about the murders. In Buffalo Bill’s home, the senator’s daughter is seen trapped a well-like structure, screaming for help. Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill acts oblivious to her suffering and is not affected or remorseful about it. The DSM 5 also describes those affected by antisocial personality disorder as having pathological personality traits in antagonism and disinhibition. While antagonism has several defining characteristics, callousness and hostility are present throughout the movie, as well as disinhibition characterized by risk-taking behaviors. The other evident qualifications include these expressions not understood as being normative, not due to the effects of substance or medications, and the characters being over eighteen years old.

Throughout the novel Cathy Ames has not only been portrayed as a “monster” and “only part human”, but with her knowledge and manipulative qualities Cathy can very clearly be seen as the “trickster” interwoven in Steinbeck’s novel: beginning, middle, and end. Though there are several characters in East of Eden that can be uncomfortably forced into the archetypal position of a “trickster”, Cathy is the most perspicuous example we are given.

"Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react"(unknown). What happens to you in life is mainly your fault, sure there are conditions you can't control. For decades women have sat back and accepted life as it is until something didn't go their way.Very few women actually fought for what they wanted in life. Abby exhibits positive ethics in the play “ The Crucible” written by A. Miller, because she empowers females , utilizes emotion, and upholds her personal beliefs.

In Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, the nurse Miss Ratched is a fine example of a realistic fictional villain. Possession of three key components is essential in identifying what makes Miss Ratched a villian. Motive is what drives the villain to commit the very acts that allow them to be considered evil in the first place, and often drive their entire being as a character. While they must possess motive, they must also have a sense of morals that coincides with their motives (typically evil, or distorted) and follow their moral compass in a way that often causes trouble for those around them. Additionally, a villain is frequently associated with their opposite; the hero who combats them. Kesey’s character perfectly aligns with these three categories of what makes a villain, and it is unquestionable that she is the villain of the novel.

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel based on a character amed Montag and the life he lives. Throughout the novel his belief will be challenged and he will begin to see the world he and the other characters live in differently. Overtime the man who he was will not be the man he becomes. His beliefs, the characters who have influenced him, and the ways that Montag changes will all be discussed in this essay.

John Steinbeck once wrote, “the word timshel—'Thou mayest'—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open” (301). As explained in his book East of Eden, Timshel is the idea that one makes conscious choices about their lives rather than taking what they get. Because Adam Trask is rejected by those he trusts most and lets those rejections inhibit him, the comfort of Timshel does not appear to him until late in his life.

Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. In Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, the character Cathy Ames is a selfish, deceitful, and manipulative person. She appears to be a heartless person throughout the novel. The ironic device of verbal

Steinbeck uses this passage to introduce the character of Cathy Ames, a manipulative and evil woman of East of Eden. As Steinbeck described, Cathy was a monster not solely because of her evil actions nor her manipulative nature, but from her lack of reasons for her wrongdoings. From a young age, Cathy started her evil actions. However, she was very clever in perpetrating them, never receiving any blame or punishment for them. One instance was when she arouses two boys from the neighborhood and makes them look as if they raped him.

No human, or animal, or other living being in this world is perfect. Flaws are existent. However, the severity of the flaws can differ, from mild to rather dangerous. Most importantly, flaws develop in a human being due to specific reasons. In Lord of The Flies, the author William Golding’s portrayal of selfishness and pride are significant because they are emotions that prevail when a civilization is absent, showing that humans have a tendency to go towards savagery that is contained by the presence of a civilization.

The Other Side of Paradise explores topics society refuses to speak about today. The author Staceyann Chin grows up as an outcast in Jamaica. The memoir begins with Chin at a very young age, her and her brother Delano both live with their grandma. Chin was left alone after being born by her mother and her father refuses to claim Chin as his own child. Throughout the memoir, Chin experiences sexism, classism, racism and strict religious standards. Furthermore, The Other side of Paradise, along with bell hook’s article, provides insight towards the roles of race and class, as we see in the memoirs characters, Staceyann and Delano.

The Last Kingdom, written by Bernard Cornwell, is a novel following a young Anglo-Saxon boy named Uhtred through his journey of growing up as a dane after being taken in a battle. When Uhtred is seven years old Danes come to where he lives,Bebbanburg, and kill his brother. Since he is next in line to own and rule Bebbanburg, his father takes him into battle against the danes. However, when Uhtred sees the man that killed his brother, he charges into battle and meets someone that would shape him into being the man he will become. After his father is killed in the battle, the man who killed his brothers takes him back and raises him as a son due to his courageous behaviors at the battle. The influence the Danish culture had on Uhtred at such a young age is more than prevalent through his actions and thoughts in the book. Although he was born and Anglo-Saxon, Uhtred displays traits of a Dane.

In “The Journey to the West,” the monk was accompanied by Pigsy, the Sha Monk, the Handsome Monkey King, and the horse. Each of these supporting characters possess a certain magical ability that assisted the monk on his journey, additionally they had their own flaws. This contrasts the monk, which has no magical ability and was devoted buddhism. The strengths, weaknesses, and backgrounds of these supporting characters encapsulate the idea of buddhism throughout the novel, and by including them and Xuanzang the book is able to summarize the idea of buddhism.