Villains are what make the stories interesting; they are people who are displaying the worst of human characteristics. In East of Eden, that callous and malicious individual is Cathy. Cathy is devoid of human empathy and shows this many times throughout the novel. Cathy has committed many heinous crimes towards her family. At the beginning of the novel, Cathy kills her parents by setting their house on fire while they were inside. Parents are essentially your creators, by killing them off; Cathy proves that she has no love in her heart.
Her lack of guilt shows exactly how much remorse she felt. Later on, Cathy finds out that she is pregnant and tries to abort the baby herself. Taking the life of an innocent baby is a new low even for Cathy. It has done nothing to her, yet she is still trying to kill it. Lastly, Cathy abandons her newborn twins and flees to a whorehouse. She had a roof over her head, two beautiful boys and a loving husband, yet she runs away to live in a whorehouse.
Cathy doesn’t care that her boys will never know about their mother- she only cares about what she wants and needs and that makes her selfish and greedy. Cathy has done a lot wrong to her family. Cathy’s behavior towards her family is the only possible of someone who has no empathy. Cathy’s lacks remorse and repeats her mistakes; it’s amazing to see what lengths she will go to achieve her goals. Cathy can be put up there with literature’s greatest antagonists
Author: Frank Frazier