re: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

One of the best parts of a novel I’ve ever read is when Steinbeck describes Cathy for the first time, saying there’s monsters born into the world. And just like there are monsters born without arms or other physical signs, there are mental or psychic monsters, born with malformed souls. Souls without compassion or a conscience. But whereas a physical monster can see where they are not normal, a spiritual monster has nothing to tell them they’re abnormal and so think people with a conscience, or kindness, are the ridiculous ones. It’s brilliant.