Essay C Analysis of the short story Cat in the Rain by Earnest Hemingway The theme of feeling lonely in the

crowd permeates the story under consideration Cat in the rain by Earnest Hemingway. In this story an American family is staying at a hotel in Italy. The American woman sees a cat in the rain and wants to rescue it, but the cat runs away before she can take it. The woman feels disappointed not only by the fact that the cat ran away, but also about her whole life. Suddenly, the maid knocks at the door of their room and brings a cat, but not the one the woman wanted. The story is written in 1925. The opening paragraph of the story serves as an exposition, it describes the setting very vividly. It was raining and the war monument that was near the hotel glistened in the rain. The image of a war monument creates the mood of the story and contributes to our understanding of it. The action takes place after the World War I and the main characters belong to the so-called lost generation. The protagonist of the story is the American wife. Her appearance is not described, but we can infer what we need from her actions. She likes the owner of the hotel very much for showing his respect for her. The wife liked him. She liked the deadly serious way he received any complaints. <> She liked the way he wanted to serve her. That indicates that she wanted to feel like a woman, wanted to be taken care of, and the hotel owner was the only person around her at that time who made her feel like that. She felt lonely and insecure, thats why she wanted to save the cat that was in the rain. The cat was trying to make herself so compact that she would not be dripped on this quotation creates an image of a poor kitty that is trying to find shelter from the rain. Such an image arouses sympathy in every woman. The fact that Hemingway calls the cat she proves that he personifies it, compares it to the lonely American woman. This personification serves as foreshadowing, the cat is just like that woman, only with the difference that cats cant wear masks, conceal their emotions, reassure themselves that everything is all right and nothing is to be changed. The contrast between the American woman and the maid, who acts like the one who found the womans attitude silly, repeating A cat? <> A cat? the maid laughed. A cat in the rain?, shows us how sad and lonely the woman is. In that cat she seeks a pet to keep her company. Pets are faithful to their owners no matter what. So, a cat is a universal friend for everyone. When the woman doesnt get the cat, we see how disappointed she is. That disappointment makes her reveal some more secrets. She is unsatisfied with her life: with her short hair, she wants to let it grow out; she says I get so tired of looking like a boy, with the fact that they have no actual home. And there is no one who can understand her. Her husband is her antagonist in the story. Hes found an alternative way to deal with the sad reality. He hid himself behind a book, so engrossed in reading that he didnt notice how miserable his wife felt. He found a good way to escape the reality in books. He could read about a better life and imagine that that life was his. That was all he cared about. The reader can infer it from the repetition of the word to read: Her husband went on reading, George was reading again, George was on the bed, reading, it highlights his absorption in books. There are two key sentences in this story. It isnt any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain and If I cant have long hair or any fun, I can have a cat. They convey the whole meaning of dissatisfaction with ones life and the situation with no way out. One more thing that contributes to the feeling of hopelessness is that both the protagonist and the antagonist remain flat characters. The whole situation teaches them nothing, they

remain the same, although the wife does realize some things, discovers what she doesnt like about her life. But she decides to employ her husbands strategy do nothing to change the situation. And there was hardly anything she could do. The main stylistic devices in this story are repetition (numerous repetitions of the words rain, read, like as in The wife liked him. She liked <>She liked the way he wanted to serve her) and symbolism. The author uses several symbols in this story. The cat in the rain is a symbol of vulnerability, of a creature that people always sympathize with and want to take care of. The cat is also a symbol of a home, along with the silver and the candles. The American woman had none of these, thats why she left so sad. Silver and candles create a cozy, romantic atmosphere that is impossible to have at a hotel with a husband refusing to put his book aside. The woman wants it to be spring. Spring is a symbol of warmth, of a new life, just like new clothes for a woman. The war monument is the symbol of the period of time, a reminder of the past. Rain is the symbol of sadness, loneliness. It also puts people in the mood for thinking, looking back on their lives and remembering about their regrets and mistakes. Different things are repeated in this story to focus the readers attention on them. In the first paragraph the word rain is repeated numerous times. A number of short, simple sentences create the impression of hearing raindrops fall onto the ground. When Hemingway described the womans attitude towards the owner of the hotel, he kept repeating the word liked to emphasize the fact that she wasnt accustomed to feeling that she is respected, which is proved by the quote She liked the way he wanted to serve her. Liking him, she opened the door. Here Hemingway uses the verb to like in an unusual form to add extra expressiveness to the scene and to show the American womans emotional state at that very moment. The repetition of the word want creates gradation: I wanted it so much. I dont know why I wanted it so much. I wanted that poor kitty. From merely stating the fact the woman goes to repeating it, which shows her emotional state. It proves that she wanted the cat very much and helps the reader feel her great disappointment about not getting it. The cat was the only thing she could have; it could have been the only good thing in her life. But it has gone. The verb to read is repeated many times to prove that her husband found a way to escape the reality, not a way to deal with it: Her husband went on reading, George was on the bed, reading, George was reading again. Each time the wife asked him something, he answered in a short, abrupt way: Did you get the cat?, Wonder where it went to, I like it the way it is. There was no understanding between them. Hemingway doesnt give his characters names because he wants to universalize them. Anyone could be either that American woman or the American man. This fact lets us imagine ourselves in these characters shoes, try to learn from their mistakes. Thus, through the description of these universal characters, belonging to the lost generation, the author effectively communicates the way people lived in those years, what they felt and what they had to deal with. It lets the reader travel to that time, to learn something about the past and its atmosphere.