So the further I read into East of Eden the more intrigued I am. I especially like how Steinbeck has developed the Cathy/Kate character. At the very beginning he describes that some people are monsters, and the rest of us can't understand what makes them do what they do. Of course, from the inside perspective of one of those people, the reasons do not seem strange at all. And so they do not explain them and we do not understand them.

This provides such a refreshing change from the normal antagonist. Evil characters, even when not explictly stated, usually have been corrupted by power or greed or lust or something. They are people that we can understand because they have been corrupted by a temptation that might bring us down.

Cathy/Kate by comparision never resembled anyone of us nor could she ever become like us. Therein she is able to be at once evil and yet retain some humanity. Because we cannot see her end goal, we can conitue to assume some redemption may come to her, even though we know she is not interested in it. ANd perhaps she would not understand that if it were offered her.