1. Events
1.1. Cyrus sends Adam off to the war
1.1.1. Charles' anger and jealousy towards Adam (due to the way his father favored Adam in the moment). He nearly killed him.
1.1.1.1. Cathy fakes her death
1.1.1.1.1. Cathy and Adam have a son and Cathy tries to abort the child
2. Themes
2.1. Cain and Abel (evil vs goodness)
2.1.1. Redemption/liberation
2.1.1.1. Individual vs Collective
2.1.1.1.1. Guilt
3. Cathy Ames - A woman who seems to be evil at her very core. She is extremely manipulative, and this is best exemplified when she learns how to control Mr. Edwards. She started out a prostitute and then eventually marries Adam Trask.
3.1. Adam Trask- Grew up with a father who felt he lacked masculinity and strength, and eventually sent Adam to the war. Adam disliked fighting the Indians and when he came back to his home, he felt lonely. He rescued Cathy and fell in love with her. Eventually she broke his heart, but then his realization of his evilness helped him overcome her rule over him.
3.1.1. Charles Trask - Adam's brother. From a young age, he was extremely aggressive - to the point of hurting Adam. He was also very manipulative, jealous, and often represented evilness in a person. He is often compared to "Cain" from the Book of Genesis. He did not get sent off to the war by his father, because his father feared he would be too destructive.
3.1.1.1. Hamilton Family (Samuel, Liza, George, Molly, Olive, Will, Joe, Una, Lizzie, Dessie) - Adam meets this family in the Salinas Valley when he moves there with Cathy to start a life. They are good people and they are not rich, but they are mostly happy (until Una dies).
3.1.1.1.1. Caleb Trask (Cathy and Adam's son) - He is also born with his mother's evilness. His character's purpose in the book seems to be that he needs to figure out the difference between good and evil and needs to constantly decide, every moment that he is alive, that he must fight to be good.