Essay – Letter to a cat
Letter to a cat was written by the author Sheelagh Morris and published in 1997.
The story’s main theme is loneliness: “`Colonel do you think it acceptable practice to ask only the useful and or decorative to your wedding?´ June swung around in her chair. `Mother, would you stop pretending you’re talking to the cat.´” (ll.12-14, p.1), this quote catches the main theme loneliness well as she began to talk to the cat Colonel instead of her husband and daughter.
Norma does not feel comfortable at home and wants to get out of there. Then she meets Arthur and he cares about her, which she’s not used to: “It was nice to be looked after” (l.2, p.2) She was feeling looked after when Arthur stopped the bleeding of her foot, which she clearly not feels at home.
As a woman in her forties and highly overweight she’s not use to being cared about, at home she doesn’t get a lot of attention, as we can see in the introduction. Her daughter and husband ignore her and talk to her in a condescending way: “June and Daragh did not look up from the newspapers.”(l.80, p.2) It shows that they don’t even care if she said something or not.
At the beginning of the text she has a conversation with her family. It ends in a negative way and she says she is going for a walk. Her way of slamming the door on her way out: “’I am going for a walk,’ she shouted from the hall. ‘There’s shepherd’s pie in the fridge.’ She slammed the door of number 42 behind her.” (l.20, p.1) This indicates that she is angry and just wants to get out of there, and wants them to know that.
When Norma leaves for a walk at the beach she slices her foot and meets a man named Arthur. He appears as a savior: “A shadow fell across her looking up, she saw a thin gentlemen looking over her… Norma allowed him to take her foot in his bony hand.” (l.27-30,p.1) The way it is written “a shadow fell across her” (l.27.p1) it symbolizes something mysterious. It’s like something came out of the blue to help her. Arthur helps our main character Norma and finally she feels comfortable and looked after.
She’s sitting in a chair in his hut while he served her drinks and treated her foot damage healthy and stopped the bleeding. Another thing that backs this claim is that he is her savior, is that she meets Arthur right after she bleeds. He also tells her after a while that she live with him, if she wants.
As she thought about Arthur’s offer she wanted to set June and Daragh on a test: “’How do I look?’ She whirled into the sitting-room at coffee time, dressed in the one remaining exiled kaftan. June and Daragh did not at first look up from their newspapers. When they did their comments were curt and to the point. ‘Ridiculous, I hope you’re not even thinking of wearing that tomorrow!’” (l.79 p.2) She gives them a chance to make her change her mind about moving over to Arthur, but as they didn’t even look up from the newspapers and June said it’s ridiculous, she decided to move and leave everything behind her. When she decides to write a letter she wrote the letter to her cat Colonel which really backs the claim that she did not have anybody else than her cat to talk to.

Through the analysis, it became evident, that the main theme of the essay is loneliness. Norma used to talk to the cat Colonel, which clearly supports the claim, that she had no one to talk with. As Norma meets Arthur her life changes to better. He takes care of her, and acts as her savior. The sensation of being looked after is something that Norma hasn’t felt before she meets Arthur.
Norma decides to live with Arthur instead of her husband and daughter. She feels appreciated and is ready to leave everything to live with him, but she wanted to give Daragh and June a last chance, so she sets them on a test. They fail and Norma decides to live with Arthur instead. She writes a letter to her cat, as Colonel is the one she has talked to and takes care of.