Cat in the Rain
"It isn't any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain."
The Story
"Cat in the Rain" is not as much a full story as a vignette. It gives us a brief glimpse (an hour or two?) into a married couple's hotel stay in Italy. Knowing that, consider how this story exemplifies Hemingway's "Iceberg theory" of fiction writing. What are we supposed to read into when we just see a moment of life, not a full story? See the "Questions to consider" to get you thinking.
Questions to consider
What does the cat symbolize? What is the focus in the first paragraph? Why? What does rain typically symbolize and what here? How does the story portray men and women? How does the story portray Americans?
Venice, Italy
Hemingway's Cats
Despite being one of the manliest writers out there, Hemingway was a cat lover. Click below to read Huffington Post's article "Ernest Hemingway's Cats Didn't Get In The Way Of His Manliness"
Hemingway & Hadley
"Cat" was first published in Hemingway's 1925 short story collection In Our Time and was inspired by his stay at Italy's Hotel Riviera in 1923 with his first wife Hadley.
The War Monument
The hotel square in "Cat in the Rain" has a memorial to Italian soldiers who died in World War I, but it was replaced in the 1930s. See below to gain some insight into its use in the story.