Ways in Which Characters Adapt to the Changing Circumstances of Their Lives - Essay Example

The ways in which characters adapt to the changing circumstances of their lives Characters are what make a novel interesting, and more realistic. Vanity Fair οf Thackeray and the East οf Eden οf Steinbeck are the novels can be described as best examples οf use οf characters in novels. A novel with well rounded, well-developed characters is often what leads an author to an award winning novel. It would not be possible without the use οf fundamental characters. For a novel to be interesting, the characters must appeal to the reader. They must grab the readers attention, and be able to keep the reader interested throughout the entire novel. In John Steinbecks novel, East οf Eden, the characters are unusual, realistic, and interesting, all which contribute to the appeal οf the novel. These characters appeal to the reader, and the reader is able to sympathize with most characters, from the most upstanding citizen to the ruthless seductress. Faye, although the owner οf a whorehouse, is depicted a respectable, honourable woman, by the description Steinbeck gives her. Although she owns a whorehouse, she has made it the cleanest, and in many ways, the best whorehouse οf all the others around her. Steinbeck regards her as being a good citizen, and a moral person. All οf the girls who work in her whore house respect Faye, and look up to her. As the interaction between Kathy and Faye persist, many οf the girls who work at Fayes become fearful οf her safety. Kathy slowly poisons Faye, and when Faye dies, the tone at the whorehouse drastically changes, as the girls become more suspicious οf Kate. Faye, being the good person that she was, loved Kate, and left her business to her. When Kate took over, the girls suddenly live in fear οf Kate. Kate is probably the most interesting, and gripping character in East οf Eden, due to her sedectiveness, and her evil personality. In Steinbecks first description οf Kathy he depicts her as a victim οf genetics. It was just a mere coincidence that such an evil human arose from her two good parents. The reader can sympathize that she is a victim οf nature, a common trait οf realism. Her actions are merely a result οf here natural instincts to be bad. Her character is the most complex in the novel. Her most interesting aspect is her reaction to alcohol, another interesting trait that draws the reader in. Her actions shock the reader, her boldness and independence was a reflection οf the womens movement that is still a major appeal to the women οf today. The introduction οf Kathy in chapter 8 was a turning point in the novel, since her introduction she became an intricate character throughout the novel. Samuel Hamilton, a poor Irish farmer, is the most respectable character in the novel. His adversities reflect those that humans face everyday. Although he has a vast amount οf land due to the size οf his family, his land is baron and practically worthless. His family is poor; yet is able to come together through adversity. Samuel ends up burying his own daughter, Una, who was his favourite daughter. Death is a struggle that Samuel is unable to face, giving vast depth to his character. He is able to see past the race οf an individual, and see the individual for who they really are, a trait admirable in todays world. Samuel although an admirable man, is shadowed by another complex citizen, Faye. Interesting characters are able to make a book into a page turner. If a reader is able to relate to a certain character, then the effect οf the book will be more personal and profound. The only way for an author to develop characters is to make a personal connection. Steinbeck did just that, Kathy was modelled after his first wife, who he grew to despise. Connections like these enable the reader to make their own connections, which will tie them to the book forever. Marianne, by romanticizing and telling her family her woes in detail, draws them into her misery, and doesnt think anything οf it. When she is sad, the people around her is unhappy as well, and this lack οf sensitivity for others feelings, and spoilt nature could place her in the category οf "vixenish" women. However, Marianne is essentially "good", and while she tends to be insensitive, she means well, and wishes her sister Elinor well in her relationship with Edward Ferrars. Like the previous two texts, Marianne οf Sense and Sensibility has both "good" and "bad" qualities, and the author blurs the line between these two. In conclusion, the three authors οf the texts explored are all ambivalent towards their female characters, showing their readers that "good" can be seen as "bad" and vice versa, depending on whose point οf view were looking at the women from. There is no strict guidelines for the virtuous and vixenish dichotomy; instead, there is more οf a fine line, where the good and the bad can easily overlap, making it hard to distinguish between the virtuous and the vixenish. According to today a fathers love is unconditional, a father loves his child because he/she is his child. In East οf Eden, Steinbeck chooses to represent a fathers love as conditional. A fathers love must be competed for and literally won. This type οf love is represented by one family in this novel but is made an example οf in two generations. The Trask family is this family. Cyrus has his two sons: Charles and Adam, later in the story Adam has two sons: Caleb and Aron whom also represent that a fathers love is conditional. Adam and Charles were the first characters to show that this type οf love exists. It seemed that as much as Charles tried to impress his father with material possessions, Adam would exceed him by doing the simplest οf things. On Cyrus birthday Charles thought that he would attempt to "buy "his fathers love but it did not happen the way he wanted it too, "I took six bits and I bought him a knife made in Germany--three blades and a corkscrew, pearl-handled. Wheres that knife? Do you ever see him use it? Did he give it to you? I never even saw him hone it. Have you got that knife in your pocket? What did he do with it? Thanks he said, like that. And that is the last I heard οf a pearl -handled knife that cost six bits."(29) Charles was trying to buy his fathers love where as Adam was not trying to impress his father at all. Adam only wanted to give his father something he would appreciate, "What did you do on his birthday? You think I didnt see? Did you spend six bits or even four bits? You brought him a mongrel pup you picked up in a woodlot. You laughed like a fool and said it would make a good bird dog. That dog sleeps in his room. He plays with it while hes reading. Hes got it all trained. And wheres the knife? Thanks he said just thanks."(30) Charles and Adam both loved their father Cyrus but Charles always had trouble pleasing him. Everyone liked Adam more, Charles was the Cain οf the story, not only did he try to kill his brother but other characters in the novel could sense his evil, "It was Adam who needed the army to make a man οf him. Charles was pretty near a man already. And Charles was a man, and a dangerous man, even at fifteen, and when Adam was sixteen."(23) Although Adam was a kind and gentle man he was naive. He married and took care οf an evil woman who bore his children; twins. Cathy is very evil and this characteristic is represented through one οf her sons Caleb. Unlike Charles, Caleb felt guilty when he deliberately hurt someone, "In his mind he cried, Dont let me be mean." Caleb is a very interesting Character that is much like Charles, no matter what Caleb did, even if it was act identical to his brother; everyone liked Aron better. Adam loved Aron unconditionally, but his love for Charles seems to be conditional, however Adam does not even know his sons, Cathy has kept him from his sons even now that she has left. Caleb saved up fifteen thousand dollars to make up for the money Adam lost in an ice plant. As with the situation in the beginning οf the novel, when Caleb gives his father the money, Adams reaction is not what he expected it to be, "No I dont want it ever. I would be so happy if you could give me--well what your brother has--pride in the thing hes doing, gladness in his progress. Money, even clean money, doesnt stack up with that." Adam received his money through pride and not material possessions. Today a fathers love is unconditional, but in this novel a fathers love in this family is represented as conditional. Cyrus loves Adam because he is a "good boy" but Charles is evil and dangerous, making him very difficult to like or even love. Adam loves Aron because he is full οf integrity and has pride in what he does. Caleb is likeable but also hard to love because οf his hidden evilness. If Cyrus or Adams love had been unconditional with both sons regardless οf their personality, the evilness οf Caleb and Charles might have been erased because they no longer would be resentful towards his brother. Works Cited Thackeray, William., 1917. Vanity Fair, A Novel without a Hero. Steinbeck, John., East οf Eden "The Salinas Valley is in Northern California Read More