Ernest Hemingway's short story "Cat in the Rain" is a portrait of a failing marriage. This idea is apparent on the surface. An American couple is staying in a foreign hotel and it is raining outside. The wife looks out and sees a cat that she wants to get. When she does make it outside, the cat is gone and she is very disappointed. She returns to her hotel room and gives her husband a list of things she desires, such as long hair, a cat, and for it to be spring; while he simply reads his book and ignores her. Her discontent and his indifference are now both obvious. While this theme of failed love is apparent on the surface, textual evidence (such as symbolism, imagery, and descriptions of setting) helps to pinpoint why the marriage has failed. This is achieved in three different ways. The first is the portrait of the American wife, the second in the way the husband treats his wife and thirdly through the role the hotelkeeper plays.
             At the very beginning of the story two major factors in the tumultuous relationship are identified. We find that the American couple is in a hotel where they do not know anyone else. This is, obviously, a sign of the isolation experienced in their marriage. The couple is staying in a room that "... faced the public garden and the war monument," (Hemingway 129). This symbolic contrast between the public garden (which can be interpreted as fertility or life) and the war monument (conflict) is the first insight into the marriage at hand. There is a lack of fertility and life in their marriage, which is in turn causing conflict. While this is where the problems are rooted, it is important to see the wife's emotional state in order to shed more light on the basic conflict.
             The wife feels as if she is not grown up, but desperately wants to be. When she sees the cat in the rain, her desire to get it is tantamount to her desire for adulthood. She wants a creature to care for an...