Symbolism in Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway
In his short story Cat in the Rain, Ernest Hemingway uses imagery andsubtlety to convey to the reader that the relationship between theAmerican couple is in crisis and is quite clearly dysfunctional. Inother words, the reader has to have a symbolic reading of the images.In fact, what seems to be a simple tale of an American couple spendinga rainy afternoon inside their hotel room serves as a great metaphorfor their relationship. This symbolic imagery, hided behind commonobjects, gives the story all its significance.
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This short story contains a great number of striking and literarysymbols. In a symbolic reading, the opening paragraph describes thecrisis that exists in the marriage of the couple. In other words, thedescription of the bad weather, of the “empty square”[1](l.10) and oftheir isolation, reflects this conflict and also sets the negativemood. In fact, since the beginning, Ernest Hemingway insists on theisolation of the couple that “does not know any of the people theypassed” (ll.1-2) and are “only two Americans”(l.1). Here it isinteresting to notice that they are isolated from the outside worldbut also from each other. There is no communication and they have nocontact, they are distant from each other. Then this isolation isaccentuated because of the weather, it is raining. The rain is partresponsible for the fact that they have to stay in their room.Nevertheless, the rain has a symbolic meaning together with thedescription of the public garden. It represents as suggests the criticJohn V. Hagopian the “lack of fertility”[2] (p.230) .
This lack is a…
…t thecat, the story would lose much of both their colour and clarity.Moreover, Ernest Hemingway has succeeded very well in this story inshowing that individualism of the people living with their own problemis in many case the cause of split and despair.———————————————————————
[1]All further references are to this edition : Ernest Hemingway, “Catin the Rain” . The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, ed. Jackson J.Berson (Dwham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1975).
[2] John V. Hagopian, “Symmetry in ‘Cat in the Rain'”, College English,XXIV (December 1962).
[3] John V. Hagopian, “Symmetry in ‘Cat in the Rain'”, College English,XXIV (December 1962).
[4] John V. Hagopian, “Symmetry in ‘Cat in the Rain'”, College English,XXIV (December 1962).
