A Cat in the Rain

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A Cat in the Rain

The American wife gasped in excitement snatching the cat from the Italian maid’s hands. “Poor kitty, ooh! How cute with your long fur and fierce eyes. Has the rain dampened your adventurous spirit?” George was fixated on his wife shortly then he returned to his readings. The American girl having remembered that she forgot to thank the maid, raced down to thank her, the cat comfortable in the warmth of her embrace. Fortunately, she was beginning to clean the stairs, which was punctuated by mud brought in by the guests.

“Thank you for the cat and relay my gratitude to the padrone,” said the American girl. The American girl returned to their room oblivious of the cringe that had formed on the maid’s face. “He looks so well fed not the ordinary stray cat. I will call you Ambrose just like George’s father, is that not a great name? ”, asked the American girl towards George. “ What now! Can’t you let me read in peace?” George replied sitting upright on the bed. The American woman stood by the window cuddling the poor kitty as it purred in response to her soothing touches. The wife stood in silent meditation by the window. The sound of thunder outside brought her back to reality.

“This is not the poor cat that was drenched in rain and it is too big and hardly wet”, the American girl pronounced as if she had been suddenly enlightened. “They are all the same, after all you wanted a cat, and now you have it, let it not stress you any further,” replied George without turning to look at her. The American girl went to stairs to clear her head by a walk in the ever-increasing rain. On reaching the hotel entrance, the hotelkeeper left his warm sofa at the reception to hand the umbrella to the American woman personally. The American woman’s face instantaneously light up and she subsequently embraced the padrone in a hug for the duration of almost a minute. She loved the man’s scent and his choice of dressing which was consistent with the sharp dressing characteristic of Italian men. The man was about two heads taller than the average height of his compatriots.

George who was checking in on a mail he was expecting, found them in the midst of their embrace. The two awkwardly detangled themselves from each other as if they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Embarrassed, the hotelkeeper returned to his station. The cat who had followed its new masters down the stairs purred similar to a wailing baby. After a moment of silence the hotelkeeper spoke, “How can I be of assistance Signor?” George walked back to his room without a response. The American girl with an umbrella as her sole companion went out to face the rain. The maid, who had witnessed the whole spectacle unfold, returned to her cleaning duties.

The padrone signaled the maid to go after the foreign woman. After taking an umbrella the maid reluctantly run after the American guest lest she gets lost under their supervision. The maid took large strides in order to catch up with the athletic signora. After one block, the American girl was halted by a billboard with the picture of a very beautiful infant. Despite the bad weather, the billboard cast a shadow owing the moon’s light. As the American girl followed the direction the shadow was pointing, she saw a cat drenched in water. As the cat approached, she recognized it to be one she saw beneath the diner table and took it into her arms.

Abstract

Ernest Hemingway’s setting of the story is inside the hotel. Similar to the original story, my piece retains the gloomy scenery of the rain and most importantly the iceberg theory stylistic technique. The technique alludes to highlighting only the surface details of the story the readers are left to discover for themselves the deeper meanings. In both the author’s story and my original piece, the American woman spends a considerable amount of tie by the window. It shows that contrary to her husband who finds comfort in books, she is extroverted and would only find fulfillment on the outside world (Hemingway Chapter 10). In the closing paragraph of my piece, this actualization is personified by the American woman coming across the elusive cat while in her stroll in the rain. Similar to Hemingway my piece only touches the surface of the unspoken emotions between the characters (Harry 601). American woman uses the first cat to express her frustrations to her husband. By saying the cat is not a stray, she is referring to their constant state of travel and the corresponding lack of a permanent home. The reference to the cat’s long fur and the rain curtailing its adventurous spirit resonates to her inner sentiments. It shows her desire for long hair and the fact that her marriage has prevented her from following her ambitions. In the Hemingway story, the want of a cat symbolizes by desire to have a baby by George’s wife. Extrapolating from that fact my piece portrays the wife’s futile attempts to reveal her desire to George. The strategy of calling the cat Ambrose, the name of George’s father proves to be a failure, as he remains indifferent. Another stylistic technique I have drawn from Hemingway in writing my piece is, the retaining two protagonists; the other characters interlude only to emphasis a certain theme. In the article story revolves around the American woman and her husband, George (Hemingway Chapter 10). The American woman liking of the hotelkeeper is used to depict her deprivation of attention and significance by her husband. The American woman appreciates the respect the hotelkeeper gives her because George treats her as a child. In my homage fiction, the wife’s action of embracing the padrone is used to put the unspoken conflict by the couple out in the open. It gives the woman the courage to step out in pursuit of her dreams. Akin to Hemingway, I utilize the weather to foreshadow forthcoming events. As the weather worsens so does the problematic relationship and eventually it ceases as my story ends. In my text, I have utilized Hemingway’s stylistic devices of repetition and a mixture of both active and passive voice. Hemingway employs conversations to inject the life into the story, repetition when attempting to emphasis a point, and passive voice to distant himself away from his characters (Harry 583). Hemingway emphases on the word ‘like’ to show the immaturity of the American girl. A grown woman would admire or love things rather than the indecisive like. In my original piece, I have retained the emphasis on the word ‘American’ through repetition to show that their behavior is foreign especially their way of expressing conflict. In my story, passive voice is used to describe the American woman’s embracing the padrone as a third party. As the writer, I am an independent observer rather than being the expression of the character.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. In our time. Simon and Schuster, 2014.

Levin, Harry. “Observations on the style of Ernest Hemingway.” Kenyon Review (1951): 581-609.