By going into such detail about the animals Steinbeck shows a comparison between Cathy and an animal, saying they are “almost invisible except when their yellow eyes [catch] light and [flash] for a second.” (176) This can also be seen as how Cathy seems delicate and quite until one looks at her eyes, and they see within them an emptiness that opposes the initial opinion of her. Cathy’s eyes remind Samuel of the eyes of a man he saw just before his hanging when Samuel was a small boy. The eyes had “no depth” and “were not like other eyes, not like the eyes of a man.” (178) It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul, so Cathy and this golden man both having empty, expressionless eyes is symbolizing their lack of souls and their uncaring
By going into such detail about the animals Steinbeck shows a comparison between Cathy and an animal, saying they are “almost invisible except when their yellow eyes [catch] light and [flash] for a second.” (176) This can also be seen as how Cathy seems delicate and quite until one looks at her eyes, and they see within them an emptiness that opposes the initial opinion of her. Cathy’s eyes remind Samuel of the eyes of a man he saw just before his hanging when Samuel was a small boy. The eyes had “no depth” and “were not like other eyes, not like the eyes of a man.” (178) It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul, so Cathy and this golden man both having empty, expressionless eyes is symbolizing their lack of souls and their uncaring