A Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway
This is clearly the story of two people who do not understand eachother, and who have such emotional distance from each other it is difficultto think they will ever become a real couple. Nearly every passage in thetext points to their emotional estrangement, and the husband's distance anddisinterest in his wife. The husband is so engrossed in his book that hewill allow his wife to go out in the rain to look for a cat. "'Don't getwet,' he said" (Hemingway 129). It is clear the woman will not get anyhelp from her husband, physically or emotionally, and that the thought ofhelping her is quite far from his mind, he is only paying lip service toher, his book is far more important. As the story progresses, the woman is most often alone in the action,another item that points to the couple's lack of emotion and warmth foreach other. She ventures out into the rain without an umbrella, the hotel-keeper sends a maid to help her, and she knows immediately it was him, andnot her husband that acted kindly toward her. "Of course, the hotel-keeperhad sent her" (Hemingway 130). She does not expect such kind treatmentfrom her husband, and of course, does not receive it either. Not only is
She is also selfish,and narcissistically interested in her own desires above everything else,which may be one reason her husband is so distant, as the same criticcaustically note, "These Americans can't risk getting out of bed or goinginto the rain because they will endanger what they most value and want toprotect, their own desires. The woman gets what shewants, but not from her husband, another man has sensed her needs more thanhe has. It is an offerrather than a statement of intent. By giving her a choice, he signals hisopposite desire, saying in effect that he will do it only if she asks himto" (Lindsay). The wife gets what she wants right now, in the form of a cat, but she willnever get what she wants from her distant and ineffectual husband. The woman does not want the poor cat in the rain; she wants anything shecan take care of, so her desires are more important than the needs of theanimal. She and her husband are equally self-centered, and each shows itin their own way, he by ignoring her, and she by petulantly demanding hisattention. This is the only compliment he pays her,and it is reference to her looking like a "boy. ad statement to their relationship, it is a sad statement to theircompatibility and emotional well being. Their lives are useless, and the woman longs for motherhood as somethingto fill up the void in her life. They are incapable of any action towardeach other, and their lives are as meaningless as this rainy day in Italy. If I can't have long hair or any fun, I can have acat'" (Hemingway 131). " "'I get so tired of it,'she said. It is sad, and it is emotionally draining.
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