Cat In The Rain Essay: Feline Companionship

Hemingway’s Americans’ continual desire for more alienates them from the rest of society, proving their lack of understanding for the world. In “Cat in the Rain,” an American couple is vacationing in Italy. Instead of admiring the beauty of their surroundings, the Americans instead focus on irrelevant trivial pursuits, illustrating their greed. After going down to retrieve the cat, the wife is immediately attracted to the hotel owner, proving Americans ever-evolving want for new things: “She liked the way he wanted to serve her. [...] She liked his old, heavy face and big hands” (Hemingway 130). Instead of staying loyal to her husband, the American wife forgets he exists and moves on to the next best person she finds, showing the apathy Americans possess for what they already have. Additionally, the hotel owner is simply doing his job, and the American wife’s failure to realize this results from her greed, which severely clouds her judgement. The greed Americans possess is further proven with the American wife’s childish behavior throughout the story. When the wife cannot find the cat, she complains, “I wanted it so much [...] I don’t know why I wanted it so much” (130). Back in the hotel room, the wife demands to her husband that she “want[s] to pull [her] hair back,” and to “have a kitty to sit on [her] lap and purr when [she] stroke[s] her” (131). The

The mirror on the bedroom wall examines the public perception of her private life. Looking only at its reflection, the audience cannot tell the room is in a mess; the rosebush and the dirt trail are not apparent to the audience. In the mirror, only the back of woman’s head is evident. Her face and her emotions are hidden from the mirror. It appears as if she is doing an ordinary task; she could very well be sitting on the bed, reading a book. She turns her back to the mirror and denies it a true reflection.

Ernest Hemingway is known for writing novels and short stories with unresolved endings. In his short story, ?The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber?, he

This explains her sanity was gone and she was unhappy with herself. Eventually the character isolates herself in a room, away from her family as she examined the outside world through her window. The irony in that scene is that she was trapped behind the outside world, just as she was trapped within herself. As she spent her days in the white room, she began to develop different routines but none of them satisfied her. She was unhappy with herself until she tried once more to transform herself once again as a wife and mother. During her last attempt of being a housewife she took the time to knit two sweaters for her husband and son. The sweaters were both dull and gray as in lifeless, which is ironic towards the way the character perceived herself or surroundings.

The film called “The Cats of Mirikitani,” describes the story of a man named Jimmy Mirikitani. Jimmy was born in Sacramento, California in 1920. He was raised and educated in Hiroshima Japan. He came back to the United States in order to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Unfortunately, in 2001, he ended up living in the streets of New York. In order to survive, he used to sell his paintings. Those paintings showed his love for cats and illustrated his experiences through life such as: his childhood in Hiroshima, Pearl Harbor and WWII camps. During WWII he denied his American Citizenship but years later, he got his citizenship back. However, he never received the letter to inform him that he was again an American citizen. On September 11, after the terrorist attack of the World Trade Center, a woman named Linda decided to invite Jimmy to her apartment, so he had a safe place to stay. Linda had been filming Jimmy’s art for a while. However, after she decided to bring him to her apartment, She started to become more involved in his life

Smith, Paul. A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. 1989. Print.

This is displayed even in the first line “She sits in the park. Her clothes are out of date.” The clothes are not only showing the change of appearance, but are used as a symbol for showing the small and large sacrifices that are made when having children. Because of her clothes you are able to identify the clear loss in vanity and pride that she has in herself. Not only does this line indicate this but when read in conjunction with the line “From his neat head unquestionably rises” it shows the juxtaposition of the two different lives of two ex-lovers. “His neat head” suggests that his well put together, acting as a symbol for who he is appearance wise. When looking at the adjectives that describe the women it clearly shows that both their lives are juxtaposing against one

After spending some months in their snowy cabin in Switzerland, Catherine is finally just a month away from labour. The decision is made when the rain comes: “‘Let’s see how the weather turns out.’ It rained for three days. The snow was all gone now on the mountain-side below the station. The road was a torrent of muddy snow-water. It was too wet and slushy to go out. On the morning of the third day of rain we decided to go into town.” (Hemingway 263). The rain is what causes them to move into the town where Catherine dies in labour. Also, the description of the rain being so miserable gives a very melancholy feeling to the reader. Henry mentions that the rain prevented them from going out, reinforcing that rain has a direct negative effect on their lives. In the article “A Farewell to Arms”, Keith Neilson further expands on Hemingway’s use of rain: “Hemingway associates the plains and rain with death, disease, and sorrow; the mountains and the snow with life, health, and happiness. Catherine and Henry are safe and happy in the mountains, but it is impossible to remain there indefinitely. […] When Catherine and Henry descend to the city, it is, in fact, raining, and she does, in fact, die.” (Neilson 3). This further shows the rain’s foreshadowing of negative events because of how it coincides with Henry and Catherine moving to the city. Also, there are other natural symbols such as the snow, mountains, and plains that act with and against rain. Since this shift to rainy weather coincides with Catherine being a month away from going into labour, it foreshadows her and their daughter’s death at the end of the novel. In summary, rain foreshadows Catherine’s death when it coincides with Catherine being close to

The musical “Cats” is an outstanding show that captivates audiences of all ages. It is based on a book of poems called, “Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats”, written by T.S. Eliot. “Cats” tells a nonsense story of different cats. The amazing music, unique costumes, and intricate dance choreography bring a breath-taking story to life that a leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

Hemingway uses multiple conflicts to persuade the reader’s views of the characters in the story. His use of deception and cowardness puts a twist to the story. The perspectives of the characters’ negative actions create the story. He uses defeat as well as power to create a surprising ending that catches the reader off guard.

Critics who support this notion feel that the “reversal is substitution in wife for cat and cat for wife” and that the narrator had clearly projected his feelings for his wife onto the cat (Amper 475). Literary critic, Susan Amper, commented on this metaphor-theory, “It is not merely that the wife was always the intended victim; she

What makes Cat People terrifying is not so much of what you see, but rather what you don’t see. The real terror comes from the shadows, sounds, and ancient lore. Despite the film’s extremely low-budget, it still manages to effectively create a frightening and eerie atmosphere, and like most film noirs is able to use everyday settings and turn them into places of mystery, fear, and death. At its core Cat People is a more a psychological horror film that plays on fears and superstition. The opening text that starts the film reminds us that evil is only sleeping and waiting to be set free to cause havoc. The passage reads, “Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness.”

Hemmingway juggles heavy themes as gender roles and identity in a minimalistic and colloquial style of writing , in his short story of fiction, “Cat in the Rain” from the collection of short stories – “In our Time” which was published in 1925.

The narrator finds this cat to be out of place, and she uses the sight of this cat to take her text in a different direction. Losing her train of thought is an exercise in allowing the reader to experience what it might feel like to be a woman writer. Although the narrator goes on to make a valuable point about the atmosphere at her luncheon, she has lost her original point. Women, who so often lack a room of their own and the time to write, cannot compete against the men who are not forced to struggle for such basic necessities.

Many of the passages of the novel reflect his life. Hemingway writes: “But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This has been shown through his life, as Hemingway wrote the novella to prove he wasn’t finished as a writer. This is also reflected during his time in World War 1. Hemingway was wounded by Austrian Mortar fire, and yet despite his injuries or “defeat,” Hemingway carried a wounded italian soldier to safety. Hemingway wrote: "When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion