“Sexuality with all its desires and pains, its jealousies and its taboos, is the most disturbing impulse that humans possess” (Steinbeck 75). For Cathy Ames, a charismatic and seductive sociopath, sexuality and the vulnerability that accompanies it constitute the greatest downfall of human beings. She discovers that the key to controlling anyone lies in such impulses. At ten years old, she takes advantage of two boys through their sexuality, then tricks them to get what she wants. This behavior continues for the rest of her life, as she spends most of her time in various brothels manipulating the owners until it is clear that she is the one truly running the establishment. Cathy feels so comfortable in a brothel, a place where she controls people through their sexuality, because she herself has no weakness to such impulses and therefore uses the vulnerability of others to take over. control. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay At a very young age, Cathy Ames realizes the power she has over others through their sexuality, and how she can use such vulnerability to take advantage of them. The first example of this behavior is when she cheats on two young boys aged ten. While looking for her daughter, Cathy's mother hears laughter coming from the shed. As she entered, she saw that “Cathy was lying on the floor, her skirts pulled up. She was naked from the waist down, and next to her two boys of about fourteen were kneeling” and “Cathy’s wrists were tied with heavy rope” (Steinbeck 76). ). Cathy's mother is horrified; but the reader knows that this incident is clearly Cathy's doing. When the families get together to discuss what happened, the boys have a defense that seems ridiculous: "Cathy," they said, "started it all, and they each gave her a nickel." They had not tied his hands. They said they "I remember her playing with a rope" (Steinbeck 77). To this defense, Cathy's father responds: "Do they really mean that she tied her hands? A ten-year-old? (Steinbeck 77) Mr. Ames's inquiry constitutes a rhetorical question for the reader, emphasizing the irony of the situation. Such an idea is completely stupid, however. The reader has a better idea of ​​Cathy's personality than her father and knows that Cathy probably manipulated and entrapped the boys using her newly discovered sexuality. becomes evident in the tone that Steinbeck takes towards her character: he believes that she is pure evil and that everything she does is only for her benefit. For Cathy, this event served as an experiment. The reader does not know. exactly what Cathy said to the boys, but it's obvious she wanted to get what she wanted with them and knew how to get it. From a young age, she knows she is capable of controlling people, but she uses this event and people's reactions to judge exactly how far she can go. When the boys are "whipped alive" and Cathy gains attention and sympathy, it becomes clear to her – as well as to the reader – how much power she possesses and how dangerous it will become in the future (Steinbeck 77). As an adult, Cathy first takes advantage of Mr. Edwards, a married man whose livelihood comes from owning a brothel. From the day she meets him, Cathy plans to get everything she wants from him, then achieves this goal by using her false innocence and feminine appeal tomake him fall in love with her: "He rented a pretty little brick house for her and then he gave it to her. He bought her every luxury imaginable, over-decorated the house, kept it too warm and the walls were filled with heavy framed pictures” (Steinbeck 93). Cathy once again used her seduction mystique to take control of the situation. She maintains this control in the bedroom: “She convinced him that the result was not entirely satisfactory for her, because if he were a better man he could trigger in her a flood of incredible reactions. His method was to continually keep him out of balance. . . And when she felt the approach of a mad and punishing rage, she sat on his knees and calmed him and made him believe for a moment in her innocence. She could convince him” (Steinbeck 94). Steinbeck makes it clear that Cathy knows exactly what she is doing and how far she will go to control a man so “desperately and miserably in love” with her (Steinbeck 93). The more “unbalanced” Mr. Edwards is, the more stable Cathy becomes and this stability leads to control. As long as she remains untraceable, she retains this control. According to Sherry Argov, author of Why Men Love Bitches: “A woman is seen as mentally challenged to such an extent that a man does not feel like he has 100% control over her. . . It is available sometimes; other times it doesn't. But she's nice. Kind enough, that is, to take into account his preferences for when he would like to see her so that she can accommodate them sometimes. Translation? No 100 percent catch” (5). Cathy Ames did just that to Mr. Edwards to ensure she was in control of their relationship: "She made him feel restless, like she might run away at any moment. When she found out he was going to visit him, she made it a point to go out and come back glowing from an incredible experience” (Steinbeck 94). Cathy realizes that every time she does something like this, it never completely satisfies M. . Edwards and he falls even more in love with her because she is so elusive. As he becomes more and more in love, he becomes just as submissive, losing all his dignity. Cathy knows exactly what to say to put M. . Edwards in this state. For example: "When she came back late in the afternoon and found him waiting for her, she explained: 'Well, I have to go shopping, you know. . "And she made it out to be a lie" (Steinbeck 94). Cathy's sexuality and seductive appeal allow her to control any situation and give her power over anyone. The second brothel owner Cathy takes advantage of is Faye, a woman in her sixties who also falls under the spell of Kate, the new name Cathy takes. when she starts working at Faye's. Like Mr. Edwards, Faye finds herself seduced by Kate's sweet, unassuming nature: "Faye, the essence of motherhood, began to regard Kate as her daughter." She felt this in her breast and in her emotions, and her natural morality took over. "She didn't want her daughter to be a whore. It was a perfectly reasonable sequence" (Steinbeck 223). Kate essentially seduces Faye into treating her much better than she treats the other girls in the house. Faye is happy to take Kate under her wing because Kate knows, as she did with Mr. Edwards and the two boys in the shed, exactly what to say to appear innocent and adorable and thus get what she wants. When Faye asks about Kate's choice to dye her hair from blonde to black, Kate is "very smart." She [tells] the best lie of all: the truth” (Steinbeck 226). By mixing the truth with all its)., 1992.