“Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway
The title of the story “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway carries an inner meaning besides its literal meaning of cat in the rain. Hemingway uses iceberg theory to fix a title for his story. The title has a meaning outwardly and has a deep meaning behind it. Even though, the story says the incident when a cat caught in the rain, the protagonist of the story indirectly refers to the title by confronting the element of confinement that resembles the cat. Thus, the title signifies nothing but the American Woman. “Cat in the Rain has two points of view: full omniscient and dramatic. As the point of view is the third-person narrator, the readers can get a better idea about both husband and wife. It is also dramatic, as the narrator revealed the conflict through the dialogues of the couple. “Cat in the Rain” has several themes such as isolation, loneliness, longing for something (to get a child as well as the cat), infertility, and wishing. All these themes mean the same idea of getting or feeling isolated that makes her to get the cat as her company, and it shows the bad relationship between the couple. The story “Cat in the Rain” belongs to the feminist movement that emerged in the 1960s. As the story speaks about the woman in her marriage life and feminine identity, it follows the feminist movement that deals with the feelings and longings of the female protagonist. Hemingway gets his idea for the story from the incident that happened in Rapallo in 1923. It happened when Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, were in their first year of marriage life, and she was pregnant too. She asked for a cat that hid under the table. This incident may influence Hemingway to write his story to reflect the life of women in marriage. Biographer Gioia Diliberto declared that Hemingway reflects an incident in his story that happened in Rapallo when his wife, Hadley, asked for a cat that was hidden under the table in the rain (Brennen, 2005).
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
The story “The Story of an Hour” is originally published as “Dream of an Hour.” The title “The Story of an Hour” means the incident that happens in certain duration in the life of the protagonist. It refers to the time passed between the instants at which Mallard, the character of the story, receives the news about her husband’s death, and later discovers the fake story. Thus, the title refers to nothing, but the time duration of a story. “The Story of an Hour” has been written in an omniscient point of view. Kate Chopin uses third-person narrative to describe the story completely and makes the story understandable and sympathetic. The omniscient point of view helps the readers to get more information about the story than the protagonist. Time and mortality are the major themes of the story. Kate Chopin uses time to present the fact that drastic changes in life may happen in a fraction of second. She uses death skillfully to present the mental health of women overall. The key idea of the story is a dramatic incident (fake news of death) that turns the life of the woman. Besides other themes such as freedom and confinement, and language and communication, time and mortality play vital role in the story as it revolves around an incident in a particular duration. As it deals with the life of a woman in her marriage life and feminine identity, it obviously belongs to the feminist movement. This movement is to empower women and encourage their sense of equality and self-realization in their relationship with men. The death of Kate Chopin’s husband in 1882 influenced her to write “The story of an Hour.” As she personally experienced the oppression, her personal experience influenced her writings to contribute in the rise of feminism.
References
Hemingway, E. (1986). In our time: stories. New York: Collier.
Chopin, K. (2001). The story of an hour. Logan, Iowa: Perfection Learning.
Brennen, C. (2005). Hemingway's cats: an illustrated biography. Sarasota, Fla.: Pineapple Press.
