Pandora's box from the human race. If one takes "elpis" to mean expectant hope, then the myth's tone is pessimistic: All the evils in the world were scattered from Pandora's jar, while the one potentially mitigating force, Hope, remains locked securely inside. This interpretation raises yet another question, complicating the debate: are we to take Hope in an absolute sense, or in a narrow sense where we understand Hope to mean hope only as it pertains to the evils released from the jar? If Hope is imprisoned in the jar, does this mean that human existence is utterly hopeless? This is the
Cathy Ames noted by John Timmerman, Steinbeck demonstrates the devil allegory through repeated snake-like imagery used to describe Cathy. In one instance in the novel, Samuel Hamilton observes that “when [Cathy] swallowed, her tongue flicked around her lips…the eyes were flat and the mouth with its small up-curve at the corners was carven”, giving a serpentine air to Cathy’s demeanor. Cathy also takes on the Pandora persona from classic Greek mythology. The story goes that Zeus gave Pandora a box and commanded her not to open it. She ultimately disobeys and when she opens the box, she sets loose evil into the