ample, by the contrast between the good Samuel Hamilton and the immoral Adam Trask, who has embezzled a fortune. Cathy, Adam's wife, is even more evil, a witch-like character who has killed her parents. Samuel is one of the vehicles by which Adam breaks the spell Cathy has over him, but Samuel dies and his family begins to deteriorate. But one of the messages of the story is that the good a man does lives after him, and so Steinbeck has the Trasks begin to undergo a moral transformation as the result of Samuel's efforts and subsequent death. The sons of Adam and Cathy embody this transformation. Aron is drawn to the ministry, and Caleb fights successfully against the evil of his mother, concluding that he is responsible for his own actions, whether they are good or evil. Cathy finally kills herself, and Aron flees his mother's evil to die in battle. Caleb is in part responsible for Aron's death, because he has shown his brother
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