East of Eden In the novel, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Catherine Ames is one of the main characters. She is introduced to the reader as a monster and as time goes on, she possesses both monster like and animal qualities. As Catherine she gets older and wiser, she gets more evil and displays her monster and animal like characteristics. She knows she is powerful and indestructible. She has manipulated and tricked many people her life causing them to go to the extreme... death. Catherine "Cathy" shows her evilness and her monster like behavior in many scenes throughout the book. Steinbeck illustrates Cathy as being a mons