The picture hung in a heavy gold frame, and to the consternation of all children its eyes followed a child about the room.Alarm mixed with confusion, the feeling of being startled and not knowing what to do. From the Latin consternare, to throw into confusion. Steinbeck spends a large word on a small fright: the young are dismayed because the portrait’s eyes follow them. The weight of the word fits a picture that is grander and colder than the man in it.
East of Eden
Chapter 31 — Teaching Companion
John Steinbeck · Mountaineers 10th–12th
Coaching, not a script — and not an answer key: every question here has more than one defensible answer.
This chapter's big question
Adam tells Kate she sees only the ugly side of people and that “there’s a part of you missing.” Is he seeing her clearly at last, or is he now the one who sees only one side?
The tension Kate opens with “What do you want now?” and mocks him as “Mr. Mouse,” but “Kate was afraid—she was afraid of him”; after he tells her “there’s a part of you missing,” she sits alone with her fists beating the oilcloth, shaking with “something that felt like rage and also felt like sorrow.”
Today's focus
Notice how each person Adam meets in Salinas guards what they feel, and what Adam says plainly that they will not.
Two core ideas
- Kate reads every act as a trick, so Adam’s refusal to want anything from her is the one move she cannot answer. She is afraid of him before his speech, and alone in tears after it.
- Adam steps into the Hamiltons’ mourning, where Liza, Will and even Samuel’s portrait hold their feelings back, and Will’s alarm at Dessie’s plan is left unexplained.
The shape at a glance
The chapter has two sections. First, after brooding all morning, Adam finds Lee planting his spring garden and tells him he was stupid. Lee asks only when he is going. Lee suggests a letter, then takes it back; Adam says that whichever way he thought, a leash snapped him back, and Lee says Adam can be unhonest in many ways, but not in that way. That afternoon, at Kate’s house in Salinas, a new man shows Adam to a bare white dining room where Kate sits at the head of the table over an account book, in a green eyeshade. Adam lays the lawyers’ letter before her. She asks again and again what he wants, wonders whether Charles is really dead, names a price of forty-five thousand dollars to be bought off, and is told no. Asked what makes him so cocky, he says he feels safe. She tells him of a sheriff’s order that would run her out of the county if she ever used his name, and asks whether that tempts him; he does not see what she means. She hunts for the trick and for whoever is advising him. Adam notices that he feels nothing, and sees on her face that she is afraid of him. She refuses to let him give the lawyers her address, keeps the letter, and says she will get legal advice and find the trick. He says he does not understand how she could shoot him and desert her sons, and goes to the door. She calls after him, “Mr. Mouse,” asking whether he has a woman at last. He turns back and tells her that she knows the ugliness in people but not the rest, that she does not believe he loved her, and that a part of her is missing, like a man who cannot see green. She asks whether the things she cannot see are dreams of his sick mind. He says no, and that he does not think she believes that either, and leaves. Alone, she sits staring at the door, her fists beating the oilcloth without her knowing, shaking with something like rage and like sorrow. Second, with two hours before his train, Adam calls at the house of Ernest Steinbeck, where Olive has made a quiet room for her mother. Liza, small and old in black, sits beneath a cold tinted portrait of Samuel, beside the swearing parrot Tom bought from a sailor. Adam says he misses Samuel; Liza turns away. He says he may move to Salinas because his boys get lonely on the ranch; she answers harshly that they never got lonely on the ranch, and sends him to Dessie, who wants to move back to the ranch with Tom. As he leaves she asks him to visit Tom, says she thinks Tom is lonely, and stops herself. At the Chop House Adam finds Will, who has not visited his mother and says Tom is moping since Samuel died. When Adam mentions Dessie’s plan, Will says he will not let her do it, then covers it with talk of her business, eats a piece of the fat he had set aside, and does not want to talk any more.
A way in
Read the chapter yourself first, and slow down twice: at Kate’s table from “Just now it came to me” to the end of the section, and in Liza’s room. Some background the chapter assumes. Kate is the woman Adam married as Cathy; she shot him and left soon after the twins were born, and now runs a brothel in Salinas. The twins believe their mother is dead. In the last chapter a lawyers’ letter told Adam that his brother Charles had died and left his money to be divided between Adam and his wife; that is the letter Adam carries. Adam has been to Kate’s house once before, after Samuel’s funeral, when she showed him photographs of men who come there. Lee keeps Adam’s house and raised the twins. Samuel Hamilton, Adam’s great friend, has died; Liza is his widow, and Tom, Will, Dessie and Olive are their sons and daughters. The narrator is Samuel’s grandson: Olive is the author’s mother, and the John who peeks around her is the author as a boy. A “floater” is an order to leave town. The language is rough in places; read it as written. Four things the chapter does not settle, and the guide does not either: what Kate will do with the money or the letter; whether her tears mean she has changed; why Will is so set against Dessie going to the ranch; and whether Adam is healed for good, or his reading of Kate is the book’s last word on her. Keep the Kate scene from becoming a plain win of good over evil, and give the Hamilton section its full weight.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back from Lee’s garden to the Chop House. Look for the two sections in order, and for the turns that carry them: Lee’s “No letters” and “unhonest in many ways”; the eyeshade and the account book; the price Kate names and Adam’s “No”; “I feel safe”; Kate’s fear and the chapter’s “But why?”; “Mr. Mouse” at the door; the speech about ugliness, green and “a part of you missing”; the hallucinations retort; Kate alone at the table. Then Liza’s room, with the portrait and the parrot; “I miss him”; “We never got lonely on the ranch” and “I think he’s lonely”; Dessie’s sign; Will’s “I won’t let her do it” and his cover. Look for restraint about Kate’s tears and Will’s reasons. Then ask which sentence matters most to the student, and why.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes six sentences in the manner of the first passage, one person speaking to another about something the other cannot see: a balanced sentence that turns on but and ends by repeating its own verb; two short, blunt sentences; a sentence that turns on But to something larger; a long sentence built on if; and a short sentence that repeats the last word. Then three sentences in the manner of the second, describing a picture or object that gets someone wrong: put the verb before the subject, set two pairs of words side by side, and turn on which; a sentence that names the person by what the picture lacks, with no and nor; and a sentence that lets one heavy word land on a small, comic fact. Read both aloud beside Steinbeck’s and ask where the judgment shows without being stated.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that Adam sees Kate clearly at last. It gathers his “God knows he has them,” which grants her the ugliness; his “You see only one side”; Kate’s fear before he says a word of it; her hunt for “the trick”; her one guess for his change, a woman; and the last paragraph, where she “was not aware” of her own fists. The other side argues that Adam now sees only one side. It gathers “I think you are only a part of a human”; “I don’t think you do either,” where he claims to know her mind; the vines on her green roof; and the rage and sorrow she shakes with when he is gone. Each side must answer the other’s strongest piece. Neither may say what Kate will do next, or that her tears show she has changed.
Purpose Close on the chapter’s design. Steinbeck sends Adam to two houses in one afternoon, both with white walls, and in each he says a plain thing that someone does not want said. In the first, a woman who has always held the power is left weeping at her table; in the second, a widow snaps her mouth shut and a parrot says “Button up.” He sets Kate’s pictures of men in their ugliness beside a portrait of Samuel with “no twinkle,” two pictures that each show one side of a man. He ends not with Kate or Liza but with Will covering up over a steak, and lets the chapter close on a man who “didn’t want to talk any more.” Ask why the Hamilton section follows the Kate scene at all, and what it does to the speech about the color green. Name the habit the chapter practices: watching how people guard what they feel, and asking whether seeing through someone is the same as seeing them whole.
Easier Read aloud the garden from “I guess I was stupid.” to “I’ll leave it at the stable in King City.”; Kate’s table from “Adam drew his finger slowly” to the end of the first section; and Liza’s room from “On the wall hung” to the parrot’s last line. Talk through the second, third, fifth and sixth discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all seven discussion questions in order, then write both written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on seeing in this chapter. Set Adam’s claim that Kate sees “only one side” beside the portrait that has “no twinkle,” the eyeshade, the parrot that says “Button up,” and Will’s cover, and judge whether the chapter trusts Adam’s new clear sight or tests it. Meet the strongest objection: the chapter gives Kate fear before Adam’s speech, and after it a voice she cannot keep steady and a body that shakes “with something that felt like rage and also felt like sorrow.”
Discussion
- Adam decides to take the letter to Kate himself. Lee tells him, “You can be unhonest in many ways, but not in that way.” What way does Lee mean?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to name what Lee rules out, and to notice that Lee does not call Adam simply honest. Adam has brooded all morning. He tells Lee, “I guess I was stupid.” Lee asks only, “When are you going?” Then he offers another way: “You could put it in a letter, you know.” Adam asks, “Would you write a letter?” Lee: “No. You’re right. I’m the stupid one there. No letters.” Adam: “I have to go,” and “I thought in all directions and always a leash snapped me back.” Lee: “You can be unhonest in many ways, but not in that way.” Neither man says Kate’s name.
One reading
Hiding behind paper. Lee offers a letter and then calls himself “the stupid one” for it. A letter would let Adam do the right thing without facing Kate. Adam has spent the morning trying other ways, and “a leash” pulled him back each time. The way he cannot be unhonest is by dodging. He has to stand in the room.
No letters.
I thought in all directions and always a leash snapped me back.
Another reading
Keeping what is not his. Adam could say nothing, and Kate would never hear of the money. Lee knows him well enough to say he can be unhonest in “many ways,” but not about money that belongs to someone else. In Kate’s room Adam says the same thing in his own words.
You can be unhonest in many ways
It’s your money and I’m not a thief.
Listen for
- Hears “many ways”: Lee does not make Adam a saint.
- Notices that the two men understand each other in a few lines and never say Kate’s name.
- Carries Lee’s line into Kate’s room, where Adam says, “I’m not a thief.”
If stuck
- What does Lee first suggest Adam do instead of going?
- Why does Lee change his mind about the letter?
- Can an honest person still be unhonest in some ways?
A strong answer A strong response names the way and grounds it in the garden. One reader says Lee means hiding behind a letter: the right act done from a distance would still be a dodge, and Adam has felt “a leash” pull him back to going himself. Another says Lee means the money: Adam could keep quiet and Kate would never know, and in her room he says he is “not a thief.” The best answers take Lee’s “many ways” seriously, and carry a less than perfect Adam into the scene with Kate.
- Kate threatens, bargains and sneers. Then Adam sees on her face that she is afraid of him. What is Kate afraid of?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to answer a question the chapter asks and leaves open. Kate opens with “What do you want now?” and keeps asking what he wants. She offers to be bought off for “forty-five thousand in cash.” When he says “No,” she tells him, “You can’t bargain.” He answers, “I’m not bargaining.” She tells him of the sheriff’s order and asks, “Does that tempt you?” He asks, “Tempt me to do what?” She says, “I don’t know what the trick is, but I’m going to find out,” and guesses that Lee is advising him. Then the narrator: “When he glanced at her he surprised an emotion on her face he had never seen before. Kate was afraid—she was afraid of him. But why?” She “controlled her face and whipped the fear from it.” The chapter does not answer the question.
One reading
A man she cannot read. Every move Kate knows works on wanting: money, a signature, revenge. Adam wants nothing, so she cannot find the trick, and a man with no trick is a man she cannot handle. The fear shows just after she hunts for the one who must be advising him and finds no one.
I don’t know what the trick is, but I’m going to find out.
Who’s advising you?
Another reading
Losing her hold on him. Adam’s love once gave her power over him. Now he says he does not care what she does, and he feels nothing at all. The fear shows while he sits there not feeling. Her mockery right after, “too sugar sweet to live,” is a try at getting the power back.
I don’t care what you do.
He didn’t really feel that he was here at all.
Listen for
- Notices that the chapter asks “But why?” and never answers, so the student must.
- Keeps to what the page shows of Kate (her face, her control, her words) and does not invent her thoughts.
- Notices that the fear shows while Adam feels nothing, and asks whether that is cause or chance.
If stuck
- What does Kate keep asking Adam?
- What is she trying to do to him with the sheriff’s order?
- Can another person’s calm frighten you? When?
A strong answer A strong response names the fear and grounds it in the lines just before it. One reader says Kate fears a man she cannot read: everything she knows works on wanting, and Adam wants nothing, so there is no trick to find. Another says she fears losing her hold: he no longer cares what she does, and the fear shows while he feels nothing. The best answers keep to Kate’s face and words, and notice that the chapter asks the question and leaves it open.
- Kate’s first words to Adam are “What do you want now?” At the door, when she calls him “Mr. Mouse,” he turns back to tell her what she doesn’t understand. What does he want now?Character
What it asks It turns Kate’s own question back on Adam at the moment he stops leaving. Kate opens with “What do you want now?” and keeps asking: “What do you want me to do about it?” “What do you want?” “I want to know why.” Adam tells her, “I don’t care what you do.” He has finished: “I guess that’s all,” and “Good-by.” She calls after him, “You’re changed, Mr. Mouse. Have you got a woman at last?” “Adam stopped and slowly turned and his eyes were thoughtful.” He moves toward her “until he towered over her and she had to tilt back her head to look into his face.” He says she knows “the ugliness in people” but not “the rest,” and “You don’t believe I loved you.” When she says, “Give me a sermon, Mr. Mouse,” he answers, “No. I won’t,” and tells her she is “only a part of a human,” adding, “I can’t do anything about that.” Whether he is right about her is the last written question; this one asks what he is after.
One reading
Still nothing. A thought has come to him, and he says it because he thinks it true, not to get anything back. His eyes are “thoughtful.” He will not preach, and he admits he cannot change her. That is what makes the speech so hard for Kate: there is still no trick in it.
Adam stopped and slowly turned and his eyes were thoughtful.
I can’t do anything about that.
Another reading
Something after all: to be believed, or to win. “You don’t believe I loved you” is not a thing a man says if it no longer matters to him. He stands over her so that she must look up at him, and he goes out with the last word.
You don’t believe I loved you.
he moved toward her until he towered over her and she had to tilt back her head to look into his face
Listen for
- Hears Kate’s opening question, “What do you want now?”, turned back on Adam.
- Notices that the speech comes only because Kate calls him back: if she had let him go, it would never have been said.
- Weighs “You don’t believe I loved you”: the love is in the past tense, and he still says it.
- Keeps why Adam speaks apart from whether he is right; the last written question asks that.
If stuck
- What does Kate keep asking Adam all through the scene?
- What has Adam just said when she calls after him?
- Can you tell someone the truth about themselves and want nothing back?
A strong answer A strong response names what Adam wants, or argues that he still wants nothing, and grounds it in the lines at the door. One reader says he wants nothing: a thought has come to him, his eyes are “thoughtful,” he will not preach, and he admits, “I can’t do anything about that.” Another says he wants something after all, to be believed or to win: he says, “You don’t believe I loved you,” and stands over her so that she must look up. The best answers hear Kate’s own question turned back on Adam, and leave whether he is right for the last written question.
- Kate peers at Adam from under a “green transparent eyeshade.” Later, Adam tells her that some men can’t see the color green. What does the eyeshade add to what he says?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to put together two details Steinbeck never connects aloud. Kate sits at the head of the table “with an account book open before her.” “She wore a green eyeshade, and she rolled a yellow pencil restlessly in her fingers.” Then: “She peered at him from under the green transparent eyeshade. Little curls of her hair lay on the bill like vines on a green roof.” Later she “pushed the eyeshade back on her head.” Near the end Adam says, “Some men can’t see the color green, but they may never know they can’t.”
One reading
Irony. Kate looks at Adam through green and is told she cannot see it. The eyeshade is a bookkeeper’s tool, and she reads Adam the way she reads her account book, for gain and loss. The shade tints what she sees. The green Adam means is something living, and the shade makes the difference plain.
Kate sat at the head of the table with an account book open before her.
She peered at him from under the green transparent eyeshade.
Another reading
A doubt about Adam. The narrator gives Kate “vines on a green roof.” Green, growing things are right there on her head. If green is part of the picture of her, perhaps she is less blind than Adam thinks. The eyeshade lets a reader wonder whether his picture of her is too simple.
Little curls of her hair lay on the bill like vines on a green roof.
Some men can’t see the color green, but they may never know they can’t.
Listen for
- Puts the eyeshade and the speech together and says what the pairing does.
- Notices “transparent”: the shade is seen through as well as seen from.
- Notices that Steinbeck never points out the link; the reader has to make it.
- Notices that she has pushed the shade back before Adam speaks of green: by then she is not looking through it.
If stuck
- What is Kate wearing, and what is she working on, when Adam comes in?
- What does Adam say some men can’t see?
- Why might a writer let the reader find a link instead of pointing it out?
A strong answer A strong response says what the eyeshade adds and grounds it in the description. One reader hears irony: Kate looks at Adam through green, over an account book, and is told she cannot see green. Another hears a doubt: the narrator gives her “vines on a green roof,” so perhaps Adam’s picture of her is too simple. The best answers keep both the account book and the vines in view, and save the full weighing of Adam’s speech for the last question.
- Kate once showed Adam pictures of men in their ugliness. In Liza’s room hangs a huge picture of Samuel with dignity but “no twinkle.” Which picture tells the bigger lie?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to weigh two sets of pictures, one in each section. Adam to Kate: “You know about the ugliness in people. You showed me the pictures. You use all the sad, weak parts of a man, and God knows he has them.” He speaks of “the men who come to you here with their ugliness, the men in the pictures,” and says she does not believe they “could have goodness and beauty in them.” In Liza’s room: “On the wall hung a huge tinted photograph of Samuel, which had captured a cold and aloof dignity, a scrubbed and dressed remoteness, which did not belong to him living. There was no twinkle in the picture of him, nor any of his inspective joyousness.”
One reading
Samuel’s portrait. The narrator says plainly that its dignity “did not belong to him living.” Adam grants that the ugliness in Kate’s pictures is real: “God knows he has them.” Kate’s pictures leave out the best of a man. The portrait puts in something that was never there.
which did not belong to him living
and God knows he has them
Another reading
Kate’s pictures. The portrait is stiff, but the family hung it to honor Samuel, and it leaves out his joy without accusing him of anything. Kate’s pictures are kept to be used: she uses “the sad, weak parts of a man.” A picture taken to use against someone tells the bigger lie.
There was no twinkle in the picture of him
You use all the sad, weak parts of a man
Listen for
- Holds both pictures together: each shows one side of a man.
- Asks who chose each picture, and for what.
- Notices that Adam admits the ugliness is real.
If stuck
- What do Kate’s pictures show, as Adam describes them?
- What is missing from the picture of Samuel?
- Can a picture show only true things and still mislead?
A strong answer A strong response chooses a picture and grounds the choice. One reader says Samuel’s portrait lies more: the narrator says its dignity “did not belong to him living,” while Adam grants that the ugliness in Kate’s pictures is real. Another says Kate’s pictures lie more: the portrait honors a man and leaves out his joy, while her pictures are kept to use against men. The best answers notice that each picture shows one side of a man, which is Adam’s charge against Kate.
- The parrot says “Button up” twice, each time soon after Liza mentions Tom. Who in that room is the parrot talking to?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to take a comic bird seriously without losing the joke. Tom bought the parrot from a sailor, and “he had lived a ribald life.” “Try as she would, Liza could not make him substitute psalms for the picturesque vocabulary of his youth.” His first words to Adam are said “unemotionally.” Adam says, “Maybe I shouldn’t bring up your hurt, but I miss him.” Liza turns her head away and asks about the ranch. Then: “Tom wrote me,” she said. The parrot: “Button up.” She scowls at him the way she once scowled at her own sons and daughters when they were “mutinous.” As Adam leaves, after Liza has said of Tom, “I think he’s lonely,” and stopped “as though horrified at this breaking over,” the parrot says, “Button up, you bloody bastard!” Liza: “Polly, if you don’t watch your language, I’ll thrash you.”
One reading
To Liza, in her own voice. “Button up” is her rule for herself: when her eyes fill, she snaps her mouth shut. The parrot says it each time she comes near Tom, as if it has learned what the room teaches. Her threat to thrash him sounds like a woman scolding herself.
she snapped her little mouth shut on her weakness
Button up, you bloody bastard!
Another reading
To no one, and that is the point. The parrot speaks “unemotionally.” He is the one voice in the room that says rough things with no feeling under them, while the people hold strong feeling behind polite words. The joke lets Steinbeck put loud talk into a room where no one else will speak out.
said Polly unemotionally
Try as she would, Liza could not make him substitute psalms for the picturesque vocabulary of his youth.
Listen for
- Notices when the parrot speaks, soon after Tom is named.
- Lets the scene be funny and serious at once.
- Hears Liza scold the bird the way she once scolded her own family when they were “mutinous.”
If stuck
- What does the parrot say, and when does he say it?
- What does Liza do when she is near tears?
- Why might a writer put a swearing bird in a room full of grief?
A strong answer A strong response names the listener and grounds it in the timing. One reader says the parrot speaks to Liza in her own voice: “Button up” is the rule she keeps when her eyes fill, and he says it each time she comes near Tom. Another says he speaks to no one, “unemotionally,” and that is the joke: the one voice that speaks out in a room where the people hold back. The best answers keep the comedy and notice what it lets the scene say.
- At the Chop House, Will cuts the fat off his steak and pushes it aside. After he covers up about Dessie, he eats a piece of that fat. Why would he eat what he pushed away?Character
What it asks It asks the student to read a gesture. “Will cut off the edging of fat from his steak and pushed it to the side of his plate.” He talks plainly about Tom: “moping around like a monument,” and “In some ways Tom is a great big baby.” When Adam says Dessie will move back to the ranch, “Will laid his knife and fork down on the tablecloth and stared at Adam.” He says, “She can’t do it,” and “I won’t let her do it.” Asked why not, “Will covered up.” He talks of her “nice business.” Then “He picked up his knife and fork, cut off a piece of the fat, and put it in his mouth.” When Adam says he is catching the eight o’clock, Will says, “So am I.” “He didn’t want to talk any more.” The chapter does not say why Will objects.
One reading
His mind is somewhere else. He set the fat aside on purpose, and now he eats it without noticing. The talk of Dessie’s business keeps his mouth busy but not his thoughts. Whatever worries him is still with him, and he stops talking.
Will cut off the edging of fat from his steak and pushed it to the side of his plate.
He didn’t want to talk any more.
Another reading
He is forcing himself back to normal. Laying down the fork and staring was the slip; picking it up and eating is the cover. Eating the fat is like swallowing what he nearly said. He takes in something he did not want, to keep from saying something he does not want to say.
Will covered up.
cut off a piece of the fat, and put it in his mouth
Listen for
- Notices that the fat was set aside earlier in the same scene.
- Does not say why Will is against Dessie’s plan; the chapter keeps it back.
- Sets Will’s cover beside Liza’s and Kate’s.
If stuck
- What did Will do with the fat before Adam mentioned Dessie?
- What does Will do just before and just after his talk of her business?
- What do people do with their hands when they are hiding something?
A strong answer A strong response reads the gesture and grounds it in the scene. One reader says Will’s mind is elsewhere: he set the fat aside on purpose and now eats it without noticing. Another says he is forcing himself back to normal, swallowing what he nearly said. The best answers notice the fat from the start of the scene, and leave Will’s reason as unsaid as the chapter leaves it.
Critical thinking
- Liza snaps her mouth shut when her eyes fill, and Will covers up and stops talking. In Kate’s room, Adam feels a “complete lack of emotion” and says, “I feel safe.” How different is his calm from theirs?
What it asks It asks the student to measure Adam’s calm against the way the others hold their feelings. In Kate’s room he says, “I feel safe.” “Adam was interested in his own complete lack of emotion. He didn’t really feel that he was here at all.” He speaks “patiently” again and again, and near the end goes on “astonished at his own thoughts.” Kate “controlled her face and whipped the fear from it,” and later “tried to prevent the shrillness that crept into her voice.” In Liza’s room Adam says what she will not: “I miss him.” “Liza’s eyes brimmed over and she snapped her little mouth shut on her weakness.” Adam “began to feel a warm admiration for her iron gallantry.” At the Chop House, “Will covered up,” and “He didn’t want to talk any more.”
One reading
Very different. The others hold down a feeling they have; Adam has none to hold down in Kate’s room, because nothing in her can reach him now. And his calm lets feeling out rather than in: he tells Liza “I miss him,” and feels “a warm admiration” for her. Safe is not numb. He is the one person in the chapter who says a loss out loud.
I feel safe.
Maybe I shouldn’t bring up your hurt, but I miss him.
Another reading
Less different than it looks. A man who feels he is hardly “here at all” is guarding something too. After all Kate has done to him, feeling nothing in her room may be the deepest cover in the chapter. Even his thought about her takes him by surprise, as if it came from a place he keeps shut.
He didn’t really feel that he was here at all.
Adam went on, astonished at his own thoughts
Listen for
- States a thesis that measures Adam against at least two of the others.
- Meets the strongest objection with a line from the chapter and revises the claim, not only restates it.
- Does not claim Adam is fully healed; the chapter shows one afternoon.
- Notices that Adam admires in Liza a control he does not seem to need himself.
If stuck
- What does Adam say he feels in Kate’s room, and what does the narrator say he feels?
- What do Liza and Will each do when a feeling comes too close?
- Can feeling nothing be a way of hiding?
A strong answer A strong response builds a thesis, meets the strongest objection, and revises. One thesis says Adam’s calm is very different: the others hold down feelings they have, while nothing in Kate can reach him now, and with Liza he is the one who says the loss out loud. The strongest objection is that a man who feels he is hardly “here at all” may be guarding something too, and that feeling nothing in Kate’s room is its own cover. A good revision might say that Adam’s calm is new and real, but untested, and that the chapter shows it on one afternoon only. The best answers claim nothing about Adam being healed for good.
- Adam tells Kate she sees only the ugly side of people and that “there’s a part of you missing.” Is he seeing her clearly at last, or is he now the one who sees only one side?
What it asks It asks the chapter’s whole question about Adam’s speech and what follows it. Adam begins with what Kate knows: “You know about the ugliness in people. You showed me the pictures. You use all the sad, weak parts of a man, and God knows he has them.” Kate starts, “Everybody—” and he goes on, “astonished at his own thoughts”: “You don’t believe I brought you the letter because I don’t want your money. You don’t believe I loved you.” And: “You see only one side, and you think—more than that, you’re sure—that’s all there is.” She cackles: “Give me a sermon, Mr. Mouse.” He answers, “No. I won’t because I seem to know that there’s a part of you missing.” Then the color green, and “I think you are only a part of a human.” She stands with fists hidden in her skirt and asks whether the things she cannot see might be “dreams manufactured in your own sick mind.” He says, “No, I don’t. And I don’t think you do either.” Alone, “She was not aware that her fists beat softly on the White oilcloth. But she did know that the square white door was distorted by tears and that her body shook with something that felt like rage and also felt like sorrow.”
One reading
Clearly at last. Adam grants her the ugliness, “God knows he has them,” so he is not blind to it; he sees more than she does. The last paragraph bears him out. Kate does not know what her own fists are doing, just as the man who cannot see green may never know it. And she weeps with something like sorrow after he names what she lacks.
She was not aware that her fists beat softly on the White oilcloth.
You see only one side, and you think—more than that, you’re sure—that’s all there is.
Another reading
He sees one side too. He calls her “only a part of a human,” and minutes later she is shaking with rage and sorrow. Someone with a part missing does not weep at being told so. Kate’s answer about a “sick mind” is a sneer, but Adam’s reply, “I don’t think you do either,” claims to see inside her the way she claims to see inside men. He has traded her one picture for another.
I think you are only a part of a human.
her body shook with something that felt like rage and also felt like sorrow
Listen for
- Notices that Adam has gone before the tears come: only the reader sees them.
- Uses the last paragraph as evidence without saying that Kate’s tears mean she has changed or repented.
- Notices that Adam grants the ugliness is real, and that Kate’s “Everybody—” is cut off.
- Does not treat Adam’s reading as the book’s last word on Kate; the chapter does not.
If stuck
- What does Adam say Kate knows, and what does he say she does not know?
- What does Kate do after he leaves?
- Can you see a person truly and still see only part of them?
A strong answer A strong response builds a thesis, meets the strongest objection, and revises. One thesis says Adam sees her clearly at last: he grants the ugliness she knows, names what she leaves out, and the last paragraph shows a woman who does not know what her own fists are doing. The strongest objection is that he now sees one side too: he calls her “only a part of a human,” yet she shakes with rage and sorrow when he goes, and his “I don’t think you do either” claims to see inside her as she claims to see inside men. A good revision might say that Adam sees something true about Kate, but not all of her: he is gone before the tears, which only the reader sees. The chapter does not say what the tears mean, and the best answers do not say it either.
Vocabulary definitions
- consternation
- inspective
There was no twinkle in the picture of him, nor any of his inspective joyousness.
Given to looking closely at things; curious and searching. It is a rare word, built from inspect the way attentive is built from attend. Steinbeck pairs it with joyousness: Samuel’s delight came from looking hard at the world. That is what the stiff portrait lacks. In the same room the parrot cocks his head, “inspecting Adam”; the portrait’s eyes follow the young about, but they inspect nothing.- shrillness
She tried to prevent the shrillness that crept into her voice.
The sharp, high, piercing sound a voice takes on when it is strained. Earlier Kate whipped the fear from her face; this time something creeps into her voice on its own, and she can only try to stop it. It is the first sign in her voice of what her fists and tears show a moment later.