...Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway Summary “Cat in the Rain” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway. The story takes place in Italy, which we know because some persons in the story speak Italian. The main character’s name remained unknown but in the short story she was called “The American wife”. She lived at a hotel with her husband, George. One day the wife stood at the window looking out and spotted a crouched cat under a dripping table at a café across the square. When she saw the poor cat, she decided to go down and get it. On her way downstairs she met the hotel owner, who stoop up and bowed to her as she passed the office. The wife liked him. She liked every single bit of him. She even liked his old, heavy face and his big hands. When the wife went outside the table was there, washed bright green in the rain, but the cat was gone. She returned back to their hotel room, where George was reading a book. She told him how badly she wanted this cat without knowing why. Afterwards she began criticizing herself and told her husband that she wanted long hair, new clothes, she wanted it to be spring and most importantly she wanted a kitty. Her husband did not seem to take her seriously, as he only told her to shut up and get something to read. Suddenly someone knocked at the door, and the friendly maid held a big tortoiseshell cat pressed tight against her and swung down against her body. She had brought the cat for The American wife. Characterization of The American...
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...the Rain By E.Hemingway The story under analysis is written by a well-known American writer of XX century Ernest Hemingway. One of his main topics was animals as symbols and we can see this tendency in the title of the story. Cat in the Rain was written in the 1920’s. It is about an American couple who spends their holidays in a hotel in Italy. It is a rainy day and the American woman sees a cat on the street and she wants to protect it from the raindrops. When she goes out of the hotel and wants to get the cat, it has already gone. As wife returns to the hotel room, she starts a conversation with her husband George and tells him how much she wants to have a cat and a lot other things. Her husband is not interested at all. Later there is a knock on the door and a maid brings a cat for the American woman. The text of the story is not homogeneous: it presents a piece of narration intercepted with dialogues, descriptions and open ending. It is also divided into several parts according to the change of the place of narration: in the room, in the hotel and outside The general slant of the story is emotional, pathetic, depressive and tense. As the author was a war journalist and a representative of the lost generation. Cat in the Rain contains several semantic fields. The semantic field of colour: bronze, blue, green; of nature: sea, palms, rain, cat; of emotions: liked, smiled, disappointed, laughed, feeling of being of supreme importance, tired; of water: sea, rain, wet...
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...The story under the title “Cat in the Rain” was written by Ernest Hemingway, one of the most favourite American novelists, short-story writer and essayist, whose deceptively simple prose style has influenced wide range of writers. So, the story begins with the description of the hotel where two Americans stopped. It was raining, that’s why the couple stayed in and just a cat in the rain attracted the young woman’s attention. She wanted to get the cat inside but failed and was brought another cat. The problem of the story lies very deeply and we are to uncover it. The story is written in one mood which constantly and directly increases. It starts from the beginning where it’s created by a persistent and repeated use of the “rain” with a number of phrases associating it, such as puddles, deserted square, glistening war monument. Repetition is one of the widely used and favourite stylistic devices of Hemingway. Here he applies it to reveal the relationship of the protagonist to the old hotel owner (she liked ... , she liked...). As the verb “to like” is not used to characterize relations of the wife to her husband, this contrast is full of the concealed but easily read meaning. Though the cases of repetition in the story may seem a bit obtrusive, their modifications enter into the core of the narration very organically. They carry emotional character, however penetrating the story the deep sorrow becomes evident gradually. We realize that little, as if meaningless, capricious...
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...15 September 2015 Symbol of Rain in A Farewell to Arms In A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway expresses the struggle of letting go through the theme of rain. It seems as if whenever there is the slightest bit of hope for Catherine and Henry’s relationship, it is destroyed by a disaster. In several instances, including the trip to Milan and Henry’s walk back to the hotel, rain haunts the characters and predicts misfortune. Throughout A Farewell to Arms, rain tends to destroy any happiness felt between Catherine and Henry, as it foreshadows tragedy to come. One night, while Catherine and Henry are enjoying their time together in Milan, Catherine confesses that she is frightened by the rain. Catherine asks Henry if he will always love her, even in the rain, because she feels that it is “hard on loving” (Hemingway 104). Because she claims to fear rain for the reason of seeing herself and Henry dead in it, it foreshadows her death to come. In this case, rain is symbolizing Catherine’s fear of commitment. She worries that with rain comes sadness and anger, which could cause Henry to leave her. To Catherine, rain is a barrier that can separate her from Henry if he does not truly love her. Henry’s walk back to the hotel in the rain symbolizes the distress that the weather has brought to both him and Catherine. In parts of A Farewell to Arms, where loneliness is felt, rain plays a significant role in the falling out of events. When Henry chooses to walk...
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...The story under the title “Cat in the Rain” was written by Ernest Hemingway, one of the most favourite American novelists, short-story writer and essayist, whose deceptively simple prose style has influenced wide range of writers. So, the story begins with the description of the hotel where two Americans stopped. It was raining, that’s why the couple stayed in and just a cat in the rain attracted the young woman’s attention. She wanted to get the cat inside but failed and was brought another cat. The problem of the story lies very deeply and we are to uncover it. The story is written in one mood which constantly and directly increases. It starts from the beginning where it’s created by a persistent and repeated use of the “rain” with a number of phrases associating it, such as puddles, deserted square, glistening war monument. Repetition is one of the widely used and favourite stylistic devices of Hemingway. Here he applies it to reveal the relationship of the protagonist to the old hotel owner (she liked ... , she liked...). As the verb “to like” is not used to characterize relations of the wife to her husband, this contrast is full of the concealed but easily read meaning. Though the cases of repetition in the story may seem a bit obtrusive, their modifications enter into the core of the narration very organically. They carry emotional character, however penetrating the story the deep sorrow becomes evident gradually. We realize that little, as if meaningless, capricious...
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...circular plot. This is because in the beginning Henry is alone and he is still alone in the end. Another reason is because the first chapter reports the death of soldiers whereas at the end the novel deals with Catherine’s death. A sense of somberness runs through the whole novel (Merklein 2003). The main theme that stands out in this novel is that of a flattering perception of love and a negative perception of war. The novel is neither a love story nor is it entirely an anti-war piece. This paper explores Hemingway’s use of symbolism in the novel and some of the criticisms that concerning his use of this literary tool. Symbolism The author, Ernest Hemingway, effectively uses a variety of symbols to represent abstract concepts or ideas. It will be observed that there are some key symbols running throughout the novel. They are; mountains, rain and plains. The first chapter introduces mountains which recur throughout the novel. They signify dignity, love, good life, happiness and health (Dahiya 1992). Further on, they symbolize respect to God and a sense of worship to Him. In contrast, plains serve to signify suffering, death, irreligiousness, war, obscenity, disease and indignity. In the novel, the priest talks of his Abruzzi, his homeland. He tells Henry how it is a place with natural beauty, hospitality, polite and kind people and surrounded with mountains with snow. In this context the mountains are contrasted to the mess in the low-lying plains which are characterized by destruction...
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...2.k spring 2016. When Less Is More. Hemingway and Beyond ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Ernest Hemingway. "Cat in the Rain" (1925) Homework: Read the story. While reading, please note down at least three points of wonder. Pinpoint the exact sentence that puzzles you and phrase a question. Task 1: Individually Summary and composition: 1. Divide the text into sections and give each a headline. 2. Now write down 5-10 keywords that will allow you to give an oral summary of the short story. Task 2/pre-reading: In groups The importance of the first paragraph Looking only at the first paragraph of the short story, please answer the questions below: 1. Describe the setting (sum up, don't just repeat what it says in the text) 2. What do we get to know about the difference between American couple and the Italians in the first paragraph of the short story? 3. What does the setting tell about the mood of the short story? And provided that the setting is used as a mirror of the characters' state of mind, what can we infer about the characters' emotional state? Task 3: In groups Points of wonder * Discuss the points of wonder that you have identified while reading the short story. Take turns to present your points of wonder. * Choose one point of wonder...
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...the Rain’ by Ernest Hemingway ‘Cat in the Rain’ is the short story of Ernest Hemingway written in the 1920’s. It is about an American couple that spends their holidays in an Italian hotel. In the story, ‘Cat in the Rain’ Ernest Hemingway sets the scene for his fiction in a hotel room in Italy on a rainy day. On the first reading of this short story it can be easily interpreted as a wife nagging her husband, who is lying in bed while reading a book but after analyzing the story carefully it is not difficult to see the indifference of man to the woman. This paper aims to analyze the theme ‘lack of communication’ in terms of the story ‘Cat in the Rain’. It is a rainy day and the American woman sees a cat in the rain, which she wants to protect from the raindrops. When she goes out of the hotel, which is kept by an Old Italian who really seems to do everything to please that woman, and wants to get the cat, it is gone. After returning to the hotel room, she starts a conversation with her husband George, who is reading all the time, telling him how much she wants to have a cat and other things, for instance her own silver to eat with. Her husband seems to be annoyed by that and not interested at all. At the end of the story there is a knock on the door and the maid stands there holding a cat for the American woman in her hands. In the story, the woman is an ‘isolated woman’ because of the indifference of her husband. Although the scene is quite romantic such as spring and rain, the...
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...Ernest Hemingway’s “A Cat in the Rain”: Symbolism. AUTORA: Vanesa Duque León “A Cat in the Rain” is a non-fiction story that belongs to Ernest Hemingway’s collection. In a 1958 interview, Hemingway expressed his literary concern in a way that shows how his art both depends on and radically departs from conventional “realism”: “From things that have happened and from things as they exist and from all the things that you know and all those that you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing truer than any thing true and alive. (The Harper American Literature, 1156) In “A Cat in the Rain,” Hemingway demonstrates his ability to portray real women with problems and to respond to their unhappiness with real sympathy. “A Cat in the Rain” is, on the surface, a simple tale of an American couple in Italy. Ernest Hemingway’s “A Cat in the Rain” However, the reader soon realizes that this uncomplicated story illuminates much deeper meanings. This seemingly mundane plot becomes symbolic and purposeful under the reader’s gaze. There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel. They did not know any of the people they passed on the stairs on their way to and from their room. Their room was on the second floor facing the sea. It also faced the public garden and war monument. There were big palms and green benches in the public garden. In the good weather there was always an artist with his easel...
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...“Cat in the Rain” is a short psychological story by Ernest Hemingway. The plot revolves around an American couple on a vacation in Italy; there isn't any preface to the story, we know nothing about the couple’s past. The narration starts straight off when the young woman sees a cat hiding from the rain in the hotel yard. At first sight the setting is ideal: a cozy room on the second floor, a lovely view from the window. However, there is one thing which spoils the whole picture, and that is the rain, which is why the couple stays inside. Rain is also often associated with sadness; to bring home this air of melancholy, parallel constructions are used: "The rain dripped from the palm trees. The water stood in pools on the gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slippedback down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain ". The abundance of water is not accidental either; the rain, the sea, the pool – water symbolizes something inevitable; water is everywhere: it is on the ground, it is pouring from the heavens as though the nature weeps for something. This might also be regarded as a case of parallelism, since as the story progresses we realize that the feelings of the girl are not that positive. Here author also uses alliteration of sounds [r], [l]: "Rain dripped from the palmtrees, the sea broke in a long line in the rain", it brings the rhythm to the description of the weather. The conflict starts to unfold when the girl notices a cat in the rain...
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...Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American journalist and author. His writing style was very different from others because he didnt use that much adverbs/ adjectives or didnt really descriped the characters in his stories but let them speak through their actions. His language was really simple so averyone could understand. However, he used the ”Iceberg theory” which means that the surface of the story is simple, but below the surface is the structure more complex. He had a high degree of detail in description of places/things and his typically themes in his stories were love, war, loss, wildness etc.. Cat in the rain Writtin by Hemingway and publised in 1925. An American couple is on vacation in Italy. The American wife sees a cat outside in the rain and she wants it very bardly, so she goes out to get it but the cat is gone. She goes back to her hotel room and starts a conversation with her husband. She tells him the things she wants but her husband doesnt seem to be interested at all. But in the end, the padrone comes with a cat to her. There is a very long description of the enviroment (typical Hemingway style). ”In the good weather there was always an artist with his easel. Artists liked the way the palms grew and the bright colors of the hotels facing the gardens and the sea.” First of all, he descripes the enviroment like it’s summer but then he writes that it’s raining. It’s sympolizes their relationship. First it was great and they were happy but then it all...
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...Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway employs symbolism in many forms. Hemingway uses water in various states throughout the progression of the novel such as the use of rain and rivers to symbolize life and love as well as death and danger. Hemingway uses symbols to allude to the events that will occur in the coming chapters of the novel if the reader is keen to heed them. Hemingway’s use of the “bridge” and the rivers they cross, represent the lives of people and the hazards people encounter when they approach and cross a bridge in an effort to reach what is waiting on the other side. The novel opens with a beautiful description of life and of living our lives. “In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels”(3). Life’s river bottom is littered with small problems and with large problems. When things are going well, our lives are blue skies and sunshine and we are eager to have life pass rapidly. Hemingway is making a stand on the political atmosphere that was prevalent in America in the late 1920’s and one which can be applied in contemporary America as well. I must Wharton2 disagree with Thomas P. McDonnell, who wrote in an article for the National Review in 1985, remembering Hemingway and his works, “Politically, of course, Hemingway was a naïf. Where...
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...short story "Cat in the Rain" was written by Ernest Hemingway in the 1920´s. It is about an American couple that spends their holidays in an Italian hotel. It is a rainy day and the American woman sees a cat in the rain, which she wants to protect from the raindrops. When she goes out of the hotel, which is kept by an old Italian who really seems to do everything to please that woman, and wants to get the cat, it is gone. After returning to the hotel room, she starts a conversation with her husband George, who is reading all the time, telling him how much she wants to have a cat and other things, for instance her own silver to eat with. Her husband seems to be annoyed by that and not interested at all. At the end of the story there is a knock on the door and the maid stands there holding a cat for the American woman in her hands. The first thing that caught my eyes was the long description at the beginning. First there is a description of the environment in good weather, which means spring or summer, then a description of the momentary situation in the rain. This description creates an atmosphere that is sad, cold and unfriendly. To create this atmosphere Hemingway uses words such as "empty" or "the motorcars were gone". Later on, by looking at the relationship of the two Americans, you can see that this description was a foreshadowing of the state of the couple´s relationship: First it was nice, the spring-time of their love, and now there is only rain, their relationship got...
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...Ernest Hemingway has been the most influential writer of the last century. His writings have proved to be jewels in English literature. From 1925 to 1929, Ernest Hemingway produced some of the most important works of 20th century fiction; including the landmark short story collection In Our Time (1925) which contained "The Big Two-Hearted River." In 1926 he came out with his first true novel, The Sun also Rises (after publishing Torrents of Spring, a comic novel parodying Sherwood Anderson in 1925). He followed that book with Men without Women in 1927; it was another book of stories which collected "The Killers" and "In Another Country." In 1929 he published A Farewell to arms , arguably the finest novel to emerge from World War I. Let us consider the following essays for today’s discussion on the topic of Hemingway’s artistry skills. • Sudden Unexpected Interjection by David Gagne 1 • An Essay on In Our Time by Nathan Kotas 2 • Preludes to a Mood in The New York Times October 18, 1925 3 • Love and War in the pages of Ernest Hemingway by Percy Hutchinson 4 Ernest Hemingway had the most unique and colourful style of writing . He used symbolism. His style of writing involved getting right to the core of the scene without spending much time on building of characters. He used simple and declarative language. But this unique style of writing, made many feel that Hemingway was an artist in his essence. Lets find what these four people have to say on this particular aspect of Ernest...
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...War and combat injury can lead a soldier to take drastic measures to change his life for the better. In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway divulges Frederic Henry’s life from his time stationed as an ambulance driver with the Italian army to his desertion. Frederic is a character who evolves over the course of the war and ends up becoming an empathetic yet tough character who is abandoned by his hope of eternal happiness in the end. Frederic Henry’s story is one of impending tragedy, he can be looked at as a round character who mostly looks out for himself. When we meet first meet Frederic, he is lost in a world of alcohol, sex, and personal desires. Frederic finds pleasure in alcohol and women on his leave. Frederic then meets a nurse by the name of Catherine Barkley during his time as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. At the front lines, Frederic is nearly blown up by an enemy mortar shell, lodging several pieces of...
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