‘East of Eden’: John Steinbeck’s Writing of Cathy Ames

Netflix’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s renowned literary work East of Eden has hit No. 1 on Netflix’s worldwide weekly rankings. While some viewers aren’t familiar with the book, they were inspired to watch anyway because of stars Florence Pugh and Mike Faist. For bookworms and book critics, however, there has been some discourse.

When stories from different periods like 1952’s East of Eden are adapted, a great deal of consideration should be taken in the depiction of certain topics. Not every widely accepted concept and idea from back then is accepted now. This, of course, prompts slight alterations of the original work and some friction between readers and watchers.

In the book, the character Cathy Ames is depicted as the epitome of evil. Lying about sexual assault at the age of 10, driving a man to commit suicide, burning down her house, killing her parents, stealing from her pimp, sleeping with her husband’s brother, abandoning her children, and killing the woman who viewed her as a daughter, all without remorse. So, pretty bad.

However, in 2026, the depiction of lying about sexual assault at 10 years old and her abortion being portrayed as evil may cause viewers to furrow their brows at Cathy. Not only was this altered in the show, but it also garnered more sympathetic reactions from viewers. Knowing what we know now about the ratio of sexual assaults to false accusations, Zoe Kazan, producer of the East of Eden adaptation, decided to portray the situation as a teacher making advances towards his student. And raised in a time when pivotal court cases on women’s autonomy, like Roe v. Wade, were a given, and then abruptly taken away, Gen Z watchers found some of Cathy’s actions justifiable, opposing sentiments from viewers in 1952.

A woman’s perspective, which was not so highly tolerated in the 1950s, is more important than ever in 2026. However, some disagree with the depiction of Cathy, saying it garnered an undeserved sympathetic reaction from the viewers. They argued that it reduced the thesis of the book.

While I don’t completely disagree, I believe Steinbeck’s characterization of Cathy got lost as he wrote her. This, of course, could be attributed to Steinbeck’s own misogyny that contradicts the very ethos of his book. The core of the book is “timshel,” or thou mayest; you may choose to be good, you may choose to be evil. The portrayal of a woman as inherently evil and soulless, while writing about free will and nothing being inherent, is a bit contradictory. It’s clear to modern viewers that Cathy Ames got away from Steinbeck as he was writing her.

Despite the critical conversation surrounding Steinbeck and Cathy Ames, people are still loving the show. And with East of Eden book sales up by 250%, there is no stopping the discourse now, as people gain an introspective viewpoint on what Steinbeck and his characters were thinking. I’m just glad that we’re talking about literature. 

• adaptation
• eastofeden
• entertainment
• florencepugh
• johnsteinbeck
• mikefaist
• Netflix
• tv