Extra Credit Blog: Response to Cat in the Rain

            In “Cat in the Rain”, a short story written by Ernest Hemingway, an American couple-stuck in a lifeless marriage- are vacationing in Italy. The American wife, in particular, is unhappy and restless, in both her marriage and the vacation. In order to ease her desolation and restlessness, she devotes time into saving a cat from in the rain. By rescuing the cat from the rain, the American wife is reflects her desire to be saved from her own marriage.

           The circumstances between the wife and the cat are like those of a parent and a child. Many parents put their own youthful hopes and dreams on their children. The American wife does just that by placing her desire to get out of her marriage and her current life onto the cat in the rain. While the wife can't change her own story, she'd like to save the cat from a less than happy life in the rain. By saving the cat from the rain, the American wife presents herself like a parent hoping for a better future for their child than their own. 

            The American wife’s determination to save the cat symbolizes her longing for freedom. While setting the scene for the American wife and the cat, Hemingway makes many references to water surrounding both of them. For instance, while the American wife stands in front of the window looking out “rain dripped from the palm trees” and the “sea broke in a long line in the rain.” By referencing numerous sources of water around her, her lack of freedom is represented. Because while she is confined in the hotel, the world is going on around her.  Similar to the cat, the American wife is stuck under a table of her own in the rain, “trying to make herself so compact that she would not be dripped on.”  The cat in the rain alludes to her position in an isolated marriage; she wants to move away and leave her current situation, but stays there in fear of getting hurt in the process. As a result, since she can’t find the courage to save herself she wants to instead save the cat in the rain from a miserable existence instead. The American wife sees herself reflected in the cat in the rain.

            Initially, the American wife is presented as an altruistic cat rescuer, however, her cover story has little to do with her actions. It isn’t until later on that her true reasoning is revealed. While she is stuck in a hapless marriage, she wants to at least save the cat in the rain from its own hapless situation. Ultimately, her decision reflects her own desire to be saved as well.