Cat in the Rain and Where the Wild Things Are Analysis
‘At the heart of representation are acts of deliberate selection and emphasis.’ –
At the heart of representation are acts of deliberate selection and emphasis, which can offer us new ways of thinking about texts. When read from a feminist perspective Ernest Hemingway’s short story Cat in The Rain offers us a new way of thinking about the story of a lonely and self-indulgent woman. The reader is made aware of how the female protagonist is a victim of patriarchal oppression and is silenced, marginalised and depersonalised in a phallogecentric world. Similarly, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are offers us a new way of thinking about the children’s picture book when read from a postcolonial perspective. Instead of a young boy’s adventure narrative, the reader can see evidence of Eurocentric ideology, marginalisation and silencing of the other as well as cultural imperialism.
When read from a feminist perspective Ernest Hemingway’s short story Cat in The Rain offers us a new way of representing the story of a lonely and self-indulgent woman. The reader is made aware of how the female protagonist is a victim of patriarchal oppression and is silenced, marginalised and depersonalised in a phallogecentric world.
In the western culture cat has a metaphorical relationship with women, which links the cat in the novel to the American wife. They share similarities of being lonely, adrift, and insecure as they can’t change the path of life they live in. The American wife is the protagonist of this story. Despite being the main character, she remains unnamed throughout the whole story only perceived as ‘girl’ in quote “As the American girl passed the office…something felt very small and tight inside the girl”, compared to her husband George who is given a name, yet is only a supporting character. By not giving her a name it backs up the idea a woman is marginalised, silenced and depersonalised in the Patriarchal society and has been placed under a
At the heart of representation are acts of deliberate selection and emphasis, which can offer us new ways of thinking about texts. When read from a feminist perspective Ernest Hemingway’s short story Cat in The Rain offers us a new way of thinking about the story of a lonely and self-indulgent woman. The reader is made aware of how the female protagonist is a victim of patriarchal oppression and is silenced, marginalised and depersonalised in a phallogecentric world. Similarly, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are offers us a new way of thinking about the children’s picture book when read from a postcolonial perspective. Instead of a young boy’s adventure narrative, the reader can see evidence of Eurocentric ideology, marginalisation and silencing of the other as well as cultural imperialism.
When read from a feminist perspective Ernest Hemingway’s short story Cat in The Rain offers us a new way of representing the story of a lonely and self-indulgent woman. The reader is made aware of how the female protagonist is a victim of patriarchal oppression and is silenced, marginalised and depersonalised in a phallogecentric world.
In the western culture cat has a metaphorical relationship with women, which links the cat in the novel to the American wife. They share similarities of being lonely, adrift, and insecure as they can’t change the path of life they live in. The American wife is the protagonist of this story. Despite being the main character, she remains unnamed throughout the whole story only perceived as ‘girl’ in quote “As the American girl passed the office…something felt very small and tight inside the girl”, compared to her husband George who is given a name, yet is only a supporting character. By not giving her a name it backs up the idea a woman is marginalised, silenced and depersonalised in the Patriarchal society and has been placed under a