The American girl wants the cat. She sees, I think, a bit of herself in the poor thing out about in the world and unloved. I think the cat is sort of a part of the home she'd love to have with long hair and pretty things, and domesticity..I read recently that the girl's words about wanting a cat were Hadley's (his first wife) when they were newlyweds and she wanted a baby and a pretty home life..
So, thoughts?? I'd love to see them..on the whole story, the girl, the cat, the innkeeper.. :)
I guess i want to suggest there's some exploration of satisfaction, like the hairstyle she chose, now she's tired of, but it will take a while for it to grow out, the impulsive immediate gratification of a short haircut can't be duplicated by growing hair long, which takes time. Same with the marriage she's in with George--it only takes a minute to be married, but then you're stuck with it, stuck in this hotel in the rain while George is a bore or whatever, i'm sure he's okay. But so she sees this thing she wants and can have immediately, this cat, and but then when she's down there to get it, it's gone, and when it appears that the cat has arrived after all, it's uncertain whether it's the same thing she wanted in the first place. Not that she ever really knew the initial cat from any other, but it's the difference, i think, between it being this unknown ideal cat out in the rain versus a non-ideal, actual cat in your hotel room, a cat that hisses and poops and just lays around reading books or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, it is somewhat of an exploration of satisfaction. The girl..It's interesting that she starts out as 'the wife' and ends up as 'the girl' is really a girl - young, impulsive, demanding, living only in the immediate.. and now she wants to really be pretty and domestic with long hair and pretty dresses, a home of her own and a cat on her lap, purring..she has the image in her mind of how her life should be, but she's married George, and that's not going to happen for her. What I like, is that the innkeeper does try to give her a piece of that dream, it's very kind.
DeleteReminds me of that Steinbeck story we read where the wife gets validation from a man she barely knows while her husband fumbles around. Different circumstances--in (Steinbeck's) Elisa's case, the husband made more of an effort, and the peddler smashed all the validation he created--but the similarity struck me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's awfully human, as Gerard points out, to see this one thing that you can have immediately and paste the fulfillment of all your ideals onto it. Of course, I was distracted from that by the fact that the wife wanted to let her hair grow and her husband resisted it. I know men who strongly prefer short hair on women are out there, as I've met one, but that might have been a dealbreaker for me. Sorry, dude, I can't marry you. I like my hair past my shoulders.
It's funny and a little sad that she wants a cat. Cats are the one thing you can't have, so to speak. You can bring one into your house, but it decides for itself whether it likes you and when--if ever---it wants to sit on your lap and purr. I strongly suspect that if you don't pursue the cat's affection, the cat is much more likely to show it. It seems to work that way with Maia, anyway.
As for the wife's other ideals, I thought she went wrong when she brought serious money into it. Clothes get expensive, and I could see the husband sympathizing--our own home together, yeah yeah spring, all that--right up to the point where she made an immediate demand on his pocketbook. On the other hand, telling her to shut up was not Nice and did not win him any brownie points with me.
But "if I can't have long hair or any fun" was heartbreaking nonetheless.
Sweet ending.
It DOES, doesn't it! A lot like that story! And I LOVE the point about cats, which, I think, Hemingway probably knew as well - he had a cat at the time, and so there must have been at least some awareness of the Nature of Cats ;)..Maia sounds like such a delightful monster.
DeleteAnd yeah, George and I would never work together either, but then, he doesn't seem to be doing so great with his own wife either, does he!
George seems to have some issues that would keep him from getting on well with most women. ;)
Delete'Delightful monster'--that's a great way to put it. I think she'd be pleased with the title. She's just a tiny little tiger that's accustomed enough to two humans to not run away from them or make a serious attempt to kill and eat them. :P
Thanks for the Facebook reminder. This should be doable! Just trying to balance housework with little indulgences throughout the day, so you should hear from me later.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I second that I adore that tea set your mom gave you.
This is my first time reading this. What stood out for me was the inkeeper/padron. He provides something for the wife/girl that George cannot: making her feel both small and important and giving her the cat she wanted, when George didn't care enough to go out looking himself.
ReplyDeleteGeorge is kind of a bore, isn't he? Though that may be completely unfair to George whom we only ever see sitting around in a hotel room on kind of a grumpy day. I don't know; I think he might be ok. If I were trying to read on a rainy day in Italy and my RL spouse came in and started talking about how he wanted to grow his hair long and have a lovely long beard he could plait in two plaits and fasten to his belt loops and WHY CAN'T IT BE SPRING, I wouldn't necessarily jump to the conclusion that it was a metaphor for the disappointment of marriage; I might even say, "Your existing hair is just fine."
ReplyDeleteAnd he did offer to go get the cat!
I did go "awwww" when the maid brought the cat, but this one didn't crush like the geranium story did, for me. Maybe it's just how compressed the whole thing is. I feel like the actual story I wanted to read was just beginning -- where they suddenly have this cat and various things change because of it. I felt it was like, "status quo, status quo, status quo, SUDDEN POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT CHANGE" but the change is the very last line so we never actually get to see anything change. Which is ok, That's one kind of short story.
There's a novel out about Hadley -- The Paris Wife. Has anyone read it? I saw it in a bookstore a couple days ago, but haven't checked it out yet.