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Cat in the Rain

Cat in the Rain. The Author (1). Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). An American novelist and short story writer and part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, known as "The Lost Generation”.

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Cat in the Rain

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  1. Cat in the Rain

  2. The Author (1) Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). An American novelist and short story writer and part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, known as "The Lost Generation”. Leading a turbulent social life, Hemingway married four times. Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, seven years before his death by suicide in 1961.

  3. The Author (2) Hemingway’s works are characterized by terse minimalism and understatement. He compared his short stories to icebergs: nine tenths of the story lies under the surface of the text. Hemingway's protagonists are typically stoic male individuals, often interpreted as projections of his own character, who must master "grace under pressure". Many of his works, like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea, are now considered classics. Hemingway's terse prose style is known to have inspired Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Coupland and many Generation X writers.

  4. WHO? protagonists: young American couple minor characters: hotel owner maid third-person narrator

  5. WHERE & WHEN? Where? Italy. Probably the Hotel Riviera Splendide in Rapallo. When? Probably the 1920’s

  6. WHAT? An American couple are staying in an Italian hotel. It is a rainy day and the American woman sees a cat in the rain, which she wants to protect from the raindrops. When she goes out of the hotel, which is kept by an old Italian who really seems to do everything to please that woman, and wants to get the cat, it is gone. After returning to the hotel room, she starts a conversation with her husband George, who is reading all the time, telling him how much she wants to have a cat and other things, for instance her own silver to eat with. Her husband seems to be annoyed by that and not interested at all. At the end of the story there is a knock on the door and the maid stands there holding a cat for the American woman in her hands.

  7. For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

  8. Some thoughts What is the relationship like between the husband and the wife? Does he pay her any mind? Does he serve her? Does he truly consider her wants and needs? What are her wants and needs? In what ways is the husband repressing these needs?

  9. Some more thoughts Notice the repetition of the word, "American." Is Hemingway making a statement here about American women, wives in particular, being inherently more nagging, childish, and spoiled? Or is he simply trying to depict the Americans as foreigners, isolated not only in their surroundings, but also from each other?

  10. Even more thoughts Many have interpreted the wife's remark that she wants a kitty as symbolic of her desire to have a child. Or perhaps she is already pregnant and just imagining what it will be like when the baby comes. Obviously, the woman is in search of something here (companionship, attention, love, a sense of belonging) and seemingly willing to go to whatever extremes to get what she wants.

  11. ...and more How does the wife view the padrone? How does the padrone view the wife? He too seems to see her as childish and is eager to cater to her whims, but to the point that his manner of servitude is more patronizing than professional.

  12. ...and more The wife gets her cat in the end. The only question is which cat. Is it the cat the wife had spied outside or is it another cat, one that the padrone had personally arranged to be brought up? Which scenario makes for a better ending?

  13. Some questions • How would you describe the relationship between George and the woman in this story? • Look carefully at the first paragraph of this story. In what ways is the setting of this story important? How does the setting contribute to the meaning of the story as a whole? • What facts can you glean from the story concerning George and the woman? What do some of these facts tell you?

  14. More questions • Why do you think that George is given a name, but the woman is referred to as “the American wife”? • How does George seem to feel about the couple’s relationship and lifestyle? • How does the woman seem to feel about the couple’s relationship and lifestyle? • The cat, and specifically the cat in the rain, seems to be a major symbol in this story. What might the cat in the rain symbolize?

  15. More questions • What ideas does a cat in the rain suggest that another animal in the rain, such as a dog, might not suggest? What do you think of when you think of a cat in the rain?How does George seem to feel about the couple’s relationship and lifestyle? • What does the woman’s desire for the cat tell us about her?

  16. More questions • What does the woman’s desire for some of the other things she names tell us about her? What do some of these things that she desires have in common? • What do you think is a major theme of this story? In other words, what might Hemingway be saying in the story about people in general?

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