When, the gifted teacher asked, are you aware that you are being told a story, rather than an anecdote? When are you aware of what the story is?
Hemingway’s short story is in six sections, each of which is about 200 words long. Library of America has the story online, and I hope you’ll read it or refresh your memory.
Two Americans, George and his wife, are at an Italian hotel. It’s raining, and the wife notices a cat cowering under a table outside. She decides to rescue it. Her husband is busy reading.
Possibility No. 1: This is a story about a woman trying to rescue the cat.
On the way out, the wife sees the hotel owner. She makes a mental list of all the things she likes about the old fellow, including his attentiveness, his consideration, his desire to be of service. The comparison to her feelings about her husband goes unstated.
The hotel owner sends a maid with an umbrella to accompany the American wife. But when she gets outside, the cat is gone.
The wife is disappointed — and that feeling is strong.
It’s then that we see that Possibility No. 1 was no correct. This is not a story about a woman rescuing a cat.
This is a story about what a woman feels and wants and whether she will get what she wants in her marriage.
• Sources: “Cat in the Rain” is in Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises & Other Writings 1918–1926; New York: Library of America, 2020. It’s available here:
https://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2022/07/cat-in-rain.html
I ran across it by reading Julian Girdham’s wonderful newsletter, The Fortnightly.
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