In his short story "Cat in the Rain" Ernest Hemingway reveals how lonely one can be in a marriage. An American couple decides to spend their vacation in a hotel in Italy. Their room faces the sea, the public garden and the war monument too. It is raining and the American wife looks through the window. Suddenly, she sees a cat under a table who tries to accomodate herself and the girl decides to get it. She tells her husband, George that she wants that kitty. Her husband proposes his help but in the end he tells his wife not to get wet. As she goes downstairs she meets the hotel-keeper whom the girl likes very much. When the woman wants to go to get that cat, the maid joins her with an umbrella. The American wife doesn't find the cat and she is disappointed. She becomes very sad. When the American girl goes back to her husband she asks him if she should let her hair to grow out. George said that it is good as it is. The girl tells her husband that she also wants to have a kitty, a table with her own silver and candles and some new clothes. George tells his wife to shut up and to get something to read. The woman says that anyway she wants a cat. Unexpectedly, somebody knocks at the door and it is the maid. As the hotel-keeper order her to bring the cat for the woman she does it.
The title of the short story is very symbolic. It is a direct allusion to the American girl. As the cat is in the rain, under a table, feeling inconvenient, lonely, forgotten so feels herself the American girl in her marriage. The woman sees herself in that cat. She is like that poor kitty in the rain, also being lonely and forgotten.
E. Hemingway uses a lot of symbols in his short story that show the degree of loneliness. One of the symbols is the image of the cat in the rain. It is the pet who people used to sympathize, are sorry of and want to take care of. The cat may also symbolize the home, the atmosphere, the coziness that people feel being home within the family. Another symbol of the home are the candles and the silver. Such words as "rain, water, sea, pools, dripped, slipped back, glisten" emphasize the idea of loneliness and depression and create an image of sadness. The author keeps reminding the reader about the weather in order to point out the terrible, hopeless situation in which the American girl has got.
One of the main character of the story is the American wife. The woman does not have a name because she is simply named "The American wife, The American girl". This means that George is superior than his wife. As Hemingway does not directly characterize the American girl it emphasizes her incapacity to change something in their family. She wants a change but she cannot do anything for this. The wife's appearance is not described but her features can be deduced from her actions. The girl likes the hotel-keeper and is very satisfied by his respect and good attitude towards her: "The wife liked him.She liked the deadly serious way he received any complaints. She liked his dignity. She liked the way he wanted to serve her. She liked the way he felt about being a hotel-keeper. She liked his old, heavy face and big hands." This means that the American girl wants to be a woman, to have somebody to take care of her. The hotel-keeper is the only person at that very moment to treat the woman the way she wants.
The American wife wants her husband to demonstrate and show his love for her. The wife always complains, she repeats many times "want, new, like". She wants a child and that is why she always mentions about the cat who she wants to take care of. The wife wants to feel like a true woman, to be a woman. The example that highlights this idea can be "I get so tired of it,’ she said. ‘I get so tired of looking like a boy."
The cat "crouched under one of the dripping green tables"; "was trying to make herself so compact that
she would not be dripped on " represents the symbol of loneliness. These examples create an image of that poor kitty who tries to make herself convenient in the rain, under the table. The girl wants to make herself convenient and comfortable in her family too. The fact that the author uses "she" instead of it for the cat points out the idea that the woman and the cat are alike. The woman feels lonely and insecure and she has a lot of affection to give to somebody. She wants to save that cat as she sees herself in the kitty. In such a way she believes that there will be somebody to rescue her or by protecting the cat she wants to protect herself.
The other main character of this story is the American wife's husband whose name is George. The repetitions "Her husband went on reading”, “George was reading
again”, “George was on the bed, reading " highlight George's absorption in books. The only activity that he does is only reading books. He hides himself behind books and does not want to know the reality. The husband is not insistent because he proproses his help to his wife only once. The only thing that he tells her is not to get wet. "Oh, shut up and get something to read,’ George said. He was reading again." underlines George's indifference and disrespect towards his wife and the fact that he does not love her.
The hotel-keeper is the minor character. He is a total opposition of the husband. While he is good and kind the husband is indifferent and careless. The hotel-keeper's attitude towards the American wife is very good. It indicates how the relationship between the wife and her husband should be. The epithets "big hands, old heavy face" stand for lack of protection, care and tenderness from George. There is repeated so many times the word "likes" in "The wife liked him. She liked the deadly serious way he received any complaints. She liked his dignity. She liked the way he wanted to serve her. She liked the way he felt about being a hotel-keeper. She liked his old, heavy face and big hands". So, that emphasizes all the qualities the girl would like to notice in her husband.
The maid is the episodic character of the short story. She is very nice and does everything the hotel-keeper tells her. "As she stood in the doorway an umbrella opened behind her. It was the maid who looked after their room." and "With the maid holding the umbrella over her" emphasize the nicest favour done for the American wife. Another maid's feature is highlighted when she brings the cat to the girl and she apologizes : "Excuse me". This proves that the maid is well-mannered and polite. Actually, the maid is the reflection of the hotel-keeper and how good and kind he is. Her role in this short story is to stress how different is the hotel keeper from the American wife's husband.
The denoument takes place when the maid brings "a big tortoiseshell cat pressed tight against her" to the American wife. The hotel-keeper has noticed the American wife's desire to have a cat so that he orders the maid to get that cat for the girl. At the end, the American wife and her husband remain the same because the whole situation teaches them nothing at all. The wife is the only one who has realized that they need some changes in their marriage but anyway she cannot do anything. She goes on like her husband - doing nothing to change the situation.