Analysis of the short-story “Cat in the Rain”

At first glance Ernest Hemingway’s “Cat in the Rain” is a story of an ordinary American couple who travels to Italy to have a rest. Actually the story is not about a happy relationship. On contrary, it reveals the theme of loneliness and misunderstanding between close people.

The main characters of the story are a young American girl and her husband George. There is no direct description of the characters in the story. The reader can only characterize them from the point of view of their behavior and dialogues.

The young American lady is a lonely woman, even being together with her husband. She wants to get the cat that is sitting outside in the rain, which is as alone and helpless as the main heroine is. This cat in fact is the reflection of young lady herself, a being that suffers the lack of care and love.

George is not interested in his wife. He spends time in bed reading a book, without paying much attention to his wife. It seems that he feels comfortable in his own world.

It is evident that the main problem of this couple is lack of communication. But why this problem touched a young couple?

At the beginning of the story the author describes a war monument, which means that the action in the story could take place during the postwar period. It is well-known that the generation that lived then was the Ernest Hemingway’s favorite theme. He considered this generation as “lost” one, which has no interests, doesn’t know what to do, what to expect from future. Maybe, George is the representative of thus generation, who is not interesting in anything, who lost taste of life. And his wife, also desperate, but hoping for some changes. She dreams of her own home, her table, spoons, and a kitty – all those simple things that she probably missed during the war, but which could make her happy. Here is the misunderstanding: George feels comfortable about his life, he needs no changes.  His wife feels sad, she wants to change something, but her husband doesn’t listen to her.

As to the title, “cat” is the symbol not of the loneliness, but also of lady’s desire of cosiness, hearth and home, and happy family – all those things that the young lady misses.