Abstract

In East of Eden, gender roles are strictly enforced for women, but not for men. This prevents unconventional Cathy from inclusion in the idea that each person possesses good and evil, but chooses which to act on. Using feminist and deconstructionist perspectives, I consider the traditional binaries regarding sex, one’s biological traits, and gender, one’s socially constructed traits, and the moments in which they flip or hold true. I argue that Cathy’s qualities of aggression, sexuality, and independence make her androgynous; she consists of masculine and female qualities. She is punished and unable to overcome her given evil for not wholly conforming to society’s ideal of women. I also examine the way in which Lee is androgynous through softness, anti-sexuality, and domesticity, but is accepted. Considerations of Asian religion bolster support for Lee, while examinations of the perceptions of prostitution show that women are not set up to succeed like men, but to serve them. In East of Eden, Cathy’s punishment for refusing to be defined by society’s idea of femininity and Lee’s acceptance demonstrate the divide in the way androgyny is perceived; it is accepted in men but not in women, stripping Cathy of her ability to do good.