East of Eden by John Steinbeck

My passage is a little on the long side, but I tried to shorten it and it was strange so I'll just type the whole thing.

"She gave him no chance to speak. 'I'm going away now'

'Cathy, what do you mean?'

'I told you before.'

'You didn't.'

'You didn't listen. It doesn't matter.'

' I don't believe you.'

Her voice was dead and metallic. 'I don't give a damn what you believe. I'm going.'

'The babies--'

'Throw them in one of your wells.'

He cried in panic, 'Cathy, your'e sick. You can't go--not from me-- not from me.'

'I can do anything to you. Any woman can do anything to you. You're a fool.'

The word got through his haze. Without warning, his hands reached for her shoulders and he thrust her backward. As she staggered he took the key from the inside of the door, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

He stood panting, his ear close to the panel, and a hysterical sickness poisoned him. He could hear her moving quietly about. A drawer was opened, and the thought leaped in him-- she's going to stay. And then there was a little click he could not place. His ear was almost touching the door.

Her voice came from so near that he jerked his head back. He heard richness in her voice. "Dear," she said softly "I didn't know you would take it so. I'm sorry, Adam."

His breath burst hoarsely out of his throat. His hand trembled trying to turn the key, and it fell on the floor after he had turned it. He pushed the door open. She stood three feet away. In her right hand she held his .44 Colt, and the black hole in the barrel pointed at him. He took a step toward her, saw that the hammer was back.

She shot him. The heavy slug struck him in the shoulder and flattened and tore out a piece of his shoulder blade...She tossed the pistol on the floor beside him and walked out of the house."

This passage certainly enforced what the reader already knew about Cathy, which was that she is a cold-hearted, manipulative soul who possesses, or lacks, some extra or inhuman trait, as Steinbeck mentions several times. In the beginning, Cathy was beaten up and left to die by a another man who she also manipulated . However, she used what little strength she had to crawl towards any form of help, which in this case happened to be two brothers living on a farm. They, particularly Adam (the gunshot victim), nursed her back to health for several long months. During these months. Cathy manipulated Adam into marrying her just so she would have money and stability in her life. After moving into a home of their own and bearing his children, she waited only a short amount of time before she decided she no longer needed Adam, who was, by this time, helplessly in love with her. When Adam made it difficult for her to leave, Cathy simply shot him without even thinking once about it, nor look back at Adam on her way out.

Prior to any of this, however, the reader gets a glimpse into Cathy's childhood. Here she is manipulative and evil as well, burning down her own house and making it look as thought she was in the fire. Everything about her plans is very precise and is almost always executed perfectly. She knows how to play on other's feelings and weaknesses in order to get what she wants very well.

What struck me most about this scene was how someone could be as evil and cold as Cathy was. Simply shooting someone like that, with no legitimate reason, seems like a feat only a crazy person or someone without a heart could do. Her words also added to her appalling behavior, such as when she told him to throw the children that she bore into a well. Losing a child seems like one of the most terrible things that can happen to a parent, and yet here she is, indifferent and detached from the fate of her children. Later in the book, she never even returns to see how they grow up.

I would recommend this book to only certain people. It is a long and rather descriptive story, which I know is not for some people. Personally, I liked it alot. It was not a difficult read but it was interesting and used descriptive language. The characters were extremely well developed. The reader was able to learn about every character in-depth beginning when they were a child, so the reader knew why characters did what they did or why they were the way they were, as opposed to when one reads a story and starts off when they're older. The reader even knew the background of their ancestors, who had little part in the book.