East of Eden

I am deeply engrossed in this John Steinback's novel.  The way he writes of the different characters has been most interesting to me.  From those thriving of love to ones enduring loneliness, the characters seem to burst out of the novel in their own way.  The excerpt below is one that I thought interesting. It describes one character born with monstrous tendencies, or lack of. 
How great is the mind to characterize
someone with words.  
"And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born?  Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or less degree. Sometimes when we are little we imagine how it would be to have wings, but there is not reason to suppose it is the same feelings bird have.  No, to a monster the norm must seem monstrous, since everyone is normal to himself.  To the inner monster it must be even more obscure, since he has no visible thing to compare with others.  To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous.  To a criminal, honesty is foolish.  You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous. "