Theme of Despair in Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway - Book Report/Review Example

Teacher Images of Despair in ‘Cat in the Rain’ At the onset, the narrative of Ernest Hemingway’s “Cat in the Rain” seemed to be typical which tells of a wife who saw a cat outside and tried to “make herself compact so that she would not dripped on” (Hemingway 1) by the waters of the rain. As expected, she expressed that she is going to get it where her husband offered to instead get it for her. The story seemed to be regular between a husband and a wife except that husband George was merely giving her lip service and was ignoring her despite the offer to help. This revealed the depressing character of the wife which may not be obvious at first but becomes clearer when one examines the story closer. The cat in the rain is just incidental to the central theme of the story which is really despair. The cat was the object of desire of the wife which she never had. And perhaps the cat is just a symbolism of the wife’s many wishes and desires that never materialized or granted because of the husband’s cold treatment of her wife. The story narrates how dry and empty the marriage of the wife and husband George because of the husband’s neglect and emotional abandon of the wife’s need and desire that made her lot depressing. The depressing situation of the wife in Hemingway’s story may not be immediately obvious. But as the reader continues to examine the story, one will find that the character of the wife in Hemingway’s story seemed to be a paradox. She played a central role of being the neglected wife that much of the story revolved around her and yet we do not know her name. She was never introduced in the story. They were described as American couple who stopped at the hotel where the “wife stood at the window looking out at the empty square” (Hemingway 1). Eventually the husband was addressed with his name while the wife remained anonymous and the only description or title given to her was the generic “Signora” used by the hotel keeper to address her. In a way, the story treated her to the level of the hotel keeper whose name was not also introduced in the story. This alone hints the treatment of the wife of the story that no matter how significant her role is, she will always be shunned and ignored just like how her husband treated her. She is not presented as a protagonist but an unknown wife. Her husband’s insensitivity just made her whine more and feel more depressed to the point of hurting herself. The dialogue below might sound harmless with her wanting to clip her hair close like a boy but it has a deeper symbolic meaning. ‘Don’t you think it would be a good idea if I let my hair grow out?’ she asked, looking at her profile again. George looked up and saw the back of her neck, clipped close like a boy’s. ‘I like it the way it is.’ ‘I get so tired of it,’ she said. ‘I get so tired of looking like a boy’ (Hemingway 1) Note that in this dialogue, the wife was asking for a compliment and/or approval from her husband by asking his opinion whether she should grow her hair. Instead of getting an encouragement from the husband, she received a dry reply that ‘I like it the way it is.’ Unable to get an approval from her husband, she narrated more what she would like to do with her hair and clothes saying that she wants a big knot at the back that she could feel and have the kitty sit on her lap. Then she continued of having a dinner with candles and new clothes. With all that she has said of trying to reach out to her husband, all she got was a wry reply of ‘Oh, shut up and get something to read’ (Hemingway 2) The poor kitten in the rain may be symbolic of the wife’s emotional state in the marriage. Just like the cat in the rain, she is making herself compact in the relationship or making herself small to fit in the marriage and in despair to be saved by the pouring rain. But no matter how she tried adjust to her husband and to save the cat or herself, she was unable to because she is helpless. So she remains in despair in their marriage. He only consolation is that the hotelkeeper seems to be more concerned with her than her husband. This kind of treatment then reflects to their empty marriage with the husband unresponsive to her wife’s emotional needs. The rain, which prevented the wife from getting the cat is symbolic of the husband’s emotional stonewalling that the wife cannot go beyond to fetch the cat. Unable to go further to get the cat, she went back again to her husband but was ignored evident with this lines in the book where the book just continued reading despite her pleading that she wanted the kitty so much. She opened the door of the room. George was on the bed, reading. ‘Did you get the cat?’ he asked, putting the book down. ‘It was gone.’ ‘Wonder where it went to,’ he said, resting his eyes from reading. She sat down on the bed. ‘I wanted it so much,’ she said. ‘I don’t know why I wanted it so much. I wanted that poor kitty. It isn’t any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain.’George was reading again (Hemingway 2) Carlos Baker described this kind of relationship narrated in Hemingway’s “Cat in the Rain” as the “normal married state” (Bennet 26) which is really highly disputable. The marriage was barren and far from the normal state of what it should be of two couples loving and looking out for each other. Here, the wife’s situation is depressing that she never got any emotional satisfaction from the marriage because she was not only ignored but was treated so insignificantly that she was not even named in the story despite the whole narrative revolving around her. Works Cited Bennett, Warren. "The Poor Kitty And The Padrone And The Tortoise-Shell Cat In "Cat In The Rain.." Hemingway Review 8.1 (1988): 26-36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. Hemingway, Ernest, and Edmund Wilson.In Our Time; Stories. New York: Scribner, 1958. Print. Read More