An Analysis of Sheelagh Morris’s Letter to a Cat
A Qualitative Life in the Face of a Quantative Society:
Sheelagh Morris’s “Letter to a Cat”
Sheelagh Morris’s short story, “Letter to a Cat,” is a dramatization of the conflict between two sets of life-values: the qualitative and the quantative. Norma is someone who has qualitative values, that is, someone who values such things as literature and art. We term such a person as one with qualitative values, because, even while such things as literature and art may be considered “valuable,” they cannot be quantified, and so they cannot be reduced to a price or deemed as “useful.” Such people as Norma, then, are “humanists” in the classical sense. In contrast with Norma, there are her husband, Daragh, and her daughter, June. They have quantitative values, that is they value things that can only be counted and regarded as useful. We can see this attitude in June when she relates how she does not wish to invite Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom to her wedding, because they are “no earthly use to us…” (l. 11). Now, one could argue that the contrast between Norma and her family is all that “Letter to a Cat” is about. This argument would maintain that these two sets of values exist equally and so are equally valid. But to argue for this point, one would have to ignore Morris’s greater social and spiritual concerns and also ignore the obvious sympathy that Morris shows for her protagonist, Norma. In short, Morris obviously contrasts these two value systems in order to express her contempt for the quantitative one. This disdain can be seen in the settings of the story, the characterization of Norma, Arthur and Norma’s family and in the title of the story. There is not one setting for the story, but two, and these two settings are symbolic of the difference that lies between the qualitative and the quantitative way of life. Beginning in Norma’s house, the story quickly makes us aware of the way that Norma and her possessions are continually in retreat from the growing
Sheelagh Morris’s “Letter to a Cat”
Sheelagh Morris’s short story, “Letter to a Cat,” is a dramatization of the conflict between two sets of life-values: the qualitative and the quantative. Norma is someone who has qualitative values, that is, someone who values such things as literature and art. We term such a person as one with qualitative values, because, even while such things as literature and art may be considered “valuable,” they cannot be quantified, and so they cannot be reduced to a price or deemed as “useful.” Such people as Norma, then, are “humanists” in the classical sense. In contrast with Norma, there are her husband, Daragh, and her daughter, June. They have quantitative values, that is they value things that can only be counted and regarded as useful. We can see this attitude in June when she relates how she does not wish to invite Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom to her wedding, because they are “no earthly use to us…” (l. 11). Now, one could argue that the contrast between Norma and her family is all that “Letter to a Cat” is about. This argument would maintain that these two sets of values exist equally and so are equally valid. But to argue for this point, one would have to ignore Morris’s greater social and spiritual concerns and also ignore the obvious sympathy that Morris shows for her protagonist, Norma. In short, Morris obviously contrasts these two value systems in order to express her contempt for the quantitative one. This disdain can be seen in the settings of the story, the characterization of Norma, Arthur and Norma’s family and in the title of the story. There is not one setting for the story, but two, and these two settings are symbolic of the difference that lies between the qualitative and the quantitative way of life. Beginning in Norma’s house, the story quickly makes us aware of the way that Norma and her possessions are continually in retreat from the growing