East of Eden Characters

Cyrus is the Papa Bear. He's a one-legged ex-soldier who takes his brief military career very seriously. He destines his favorite son, Adam, for the army—whether Adam wants it or not—and lets h...

Adam is the first man. Duh. Okay okay, he's actually the main character of East of Eden, but we're also partially serious. Being the son of Cyrus, he has to play the Adam role; being the brother of...

Charles is the younger brother of Adam and the Cain to Adam's Abel (yes, everybody has a biblical double. Deal with it). Charles is the jealous type, the needy type, the violent type, the slovenly...

Note: Cathy's name switches halfway through the novel. We refer to her based on what she is going by at the particular moment in the book we're discussing.Where do we begin with Cathy? Steinbeck ca...

Cal is Adam's and Cathy's son, Aron's brother, and the second Cain of the novel. He's also the one who makes you say aw, and who you want to give a hug from time to time throughout the book. He's a...

Aron is the son of Adam and the brother of Cal. He is the perfect little blonde angel of the Trask clan and everybody is head over heels for him, but really he's kind of a jerk. He's got a very hol...

Lee is Adam's Chinese-American servant, but he's really more of a super assistant who takes care of everything and offers sage advice whenever it's needed (and it is needed pretty frequently). We'r...

Samuel is the patriarch of the Hamilton lot, but he is so much more than that too. An Irish-American immigrant, an intellectual, an inventor, a terrible businessman, and the owner of the worst piec...

Liza HamiltonLiza is Samuel's God-fearing wife. She's mean, she hates fun, and she only reads the Bible, but she is the yin to Samuel's yang. He depends on her when he needs a healthy dose of reali...