Stylistic Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s Cat in the Rain

by Byron Paul C. Beadoy

This paper presents a stylistic analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s vignette, Cat in the Rain.
Through the Speech Act Theory of Austin and Searle and Grice’s Cooperative Principle, this
analysis paper attempts to examine the interwoven elements of the story and thus presenting
insights to the story. It also aims to cite themes which are skillfully laid by Hemingway with all
the usual sparseness and subtlety of a Hemingway narrative.

A better portion of Cat in the Rain is written in dialogues between or among the
characters. Most of the utterances are vague and indirect. Thus it was necessary to employ the
theory of speech act and cooperative principle in the analysis of the material. Through
identifying the speech acts and violation of felicity conditions and maxims, implicatures were
noted and used in clarifying the subtext of the utterances.

Also in the analysis, utterances were lifted and subjected to semantic, syntactic, and
lexical analysis. Some parts of the narration have been lifted to supplement actions not
expressed or implied in the utterances.

The analysis is presented in a matrix for ease of comparison of utterances. The first
column presents the utterances. Parenthetical items in the first column are English translations
of utterances originally written in French. The middle column identifies the speech act
performed in the utterances. Meanwhile the third column presents the analysis of the
utterances. Narration is inserted and expounded in the analysis where it is necessary.

Utterance Speech Act Analysis

American wife: I’m going
down and get that kitty.
Commissive This is the first utterance in the short story.
It follows the laying out of the setting and
sparse introduction of the characters. It is
raining. The wife is looking out the window
of their hotel room and sees a cat under
the table.

The utterance is a commissive speech

which expresses a decision to perform an
immediate action; to get the cat.

American husband: I’ll do it. Commissive The utterance expresses that the speaker
will perform the action earlier expressed by
the wife.

American wife: No, I’ll get it. Commissive This commissive expresses assertion by the
wife to perform the action. This assertion is

The poor kitty out trying to
keep dry under a table.
American husband: Don’t get
wet.
American wife: Il piove (It’s
raining).
Inkeeper: Si, Si, Signora,
brutto tempo (Yes, yes Madam.
Awful weather).
signified by the negative ‘No’ which is
preposed in the utterance. With that, the
assertion of the wife is given more gravity.
Representative This utterance made by the wife expresses
her opinion about the condition of the cat.
While the wife made this comment about
the cat, the husband ‘went on reading, lying
propped up with the two pillows at the foot
of the bed.’ This may probably signal
indifference of the husband to the concern
exhibited by the wife.
Further, one maxim of the Cooperative
Principle is infringed. According to Grice
(1975), infringing is the instance of
breaking one or a combination of the
maxims. Infringing is a result of erroneous
speech production; that is phonological and
syntactic. There is the absence of a linking
verb to connect the subject to the
predicate, making the utterance infringe the
maxim of manner.
Directive This directive speech expresses a reminder
to the wife not to get wet once she gets
outside to get the cat. In the earlier
utterance made by the husband, he offered
the wife to ‘do it’, to get the ‘kitty’. The
husband does not insist further to get the
cat when the wife insists. The diminished
resolve – if there is any – of the husband
may signify his concession to his wife or his
ignorance of the wife’s distress.
Representative The wife addresses the utterance to the
innkeeper. It is a representative speech
made by the wife to express comment
about the weather. The utterance states
what is apparent and obvious. It violates
the maxim of quantity. The utterance is a
form of small talk which is usually used to
start a conversation or a remark or
recognizing someone.
Representative This representative speech made by the
innkeeper expresses agreement with the
comment made by the wife.
It is very bad weather.
Maid: You must not get wet.
Maid: Ha perduto qualque
cosa, Signora (Have you lost
something, Madam)?
American wife: There was a
cat.
Representative He affirms further by adding this
representative, commenting on the
weather.
One key element that might help in
understanding the thoughts of the wife is
the following narration spoken by the
omniscient narrator.
The wife liked him. She liked the
deadly serious way he received any
complaints. She liked his dignity.
She liked the way he wanted to
serve her. She liked the way he felt
about being a hotel-keeper. She
liked his old, heavy face and big
hands.
This narration constitutes a single
paragraph. The verb ‘liked’ occurs six times.
The sentences are anaphoric, preposed by
the phrase ‘She liked’. Although this is a
narration, the omniscience of the narrator is
clearly at play. It unfolds the thoughts of
the wife about the innkeeper. This is the
first of the acts that exhibit the insistence of
the wife and the preponderance of the verb
‘like’ and other lexical items under the same
semantic category.
Directive This directive can be tagged as having the
same illocutionary act as that of the
utterance of the husband about not getting
wet. But this has a more imperative tone
than that made by the husband because it
is coupled with an action (an act of holding
an umbrella for the wife.)
Directive A directive requiring the American lady to
respond. The utterance that indirectly
inquires that goal of the wife’s act.
Representative The answer of the wife is an indirect
answer to the question asked by the maid.
It violates the maxim of relevance.
However, though the statement does not

Maid: A cat?
American wife: Si, il gatto
(Yes, a cat).
Maid: A cat? (The maid
laughed.) A cat in the rain?
American wife: Yes, under
the table.
Oh, I wanted it so much.
I wanted a kitty.
directly answer the question, it implies that
the wife is indeed looking for something.
However, that something is missing now;
evident from her statement “there was a
cat”.
Directive A directive speech made by the maid. The
lady has previously expressed that she is
looking for a cat. However, the maid follows
it up with a question. This directive requires
the lady to reiterate her previous answer.
This question might denote that the maid
has misheard the statement of the lady or it
might signal her disbelief to the wife’s
statement.
Representative This speech act gives a confirmation to the
wife’s previous statement that she is
looking for a cat.
Directive The maid asks another question having the
same content. She further adds, ‘in the
rain,’ emphasizing the incongruence of a cat
‘in the rain’. This directive statement
confirms the disbelief of the maid that the
lady is looking for a cat.
Representative This speech act reinforces that the wife is
looking for a cat ‘in the rain’, ‘under the
table’.
Expressive
This string of utterance generally expresses
the feeling of the wife. This speech act is
the first utterance made by the wife that
exhibits her feeling especially about the cat.
It is preposed by the interjection ‘oh’,
signaling the expressiveness of the
utterance. Plus the statement expresses the
preference of the lady and how much she
‘wanted’ the cat. Aside from the interjection
‘oh’, her feeling of wanting the cat is
underscored by the intensifier ‘so’.
This string of utterance is followed by the
narration:
When she talked English the
maid’s face tightened.
 This narration inserts new information that
the wife has been speaking in French to the
maid until this part of the conversation.
There was no prior information cuing that
the conversation is in French. Hemingway
wrote the conversation in English. Note
that the earlier dialogue between the
innkeeper and wife is also in French and is
written in French. One may be intrigued by
this choice of the author.

This is probably done by Hemingway to let

the readers feel the surprise that the maid
feels upon learning that the wife is an
American.

Maid: Come, Signora. Directive This utterance gives a directive for the lady
to come in.

We must get back inside. Directive This is another directive made by the maid
to the wife, emphasizing that they ‘must go
back inside’.

You will be wet. Representative This is a representative speech reminding

the wife what would happen to her if they
do not go back inside the hotel. The
utterance speaks the obvious. It, therefore,
gives out information that is already
unnecessary. It violates the maximum of
quantity. It forms an implicature that the
maid really wants the lady to come in the
hotel.

American wife: I suppose so. Representative The response of the wife is ambiguous.
Somehow, one can assume that the yielding
of the lady is dubious because of the lexical
item ‘suppose’.

Meanwhile, the preceding utterance of the

maid conveyed two messages, one is to ‘get
back inside’, another one is that the lady
‘will be wet’ if they don’t go inside. As to
which message the wife directs this
utterance, one can only go as far as
assume.

Assuming that the utterance is directed to


American husband: Did you
get the cat?
American wife: It was gone.
American husband: Wonder
where it went to.
American wife: I wanted it so
much. I don’t know why I
wanted it so much. I wanted
that poor kitty. It isn’t any fun
to be a poor kitty out in the
rain.
the statement on getting wet, the utterance
creates sarcasm.
On the other hand, assuming that it is in
response to the directive of ‘getting back
in’, the utterance, ‘I suppose so’, expresses
the unwillingness of the wife to give up her
goal of going out which to get the cat.
Directive This question is asked by the husband
when the wife comes back to the room. It
directs the wife to give information about
the success of her getting the cat out of the
rain.
While the husband made this act, he put
down the book that he was reading but he
remains on the bed.
Representative This utterance gives an indirect answer to
the question made by the husband. It
violates the maxim of relevance. However,
it meets the felicity condition of
propositional content for the core of the
message answer the question.
Expressive While the husband makes this utterance, he
rests his eyes from reading. It expresses his
interest where the cat ‘went to’. Notice that
the husband rests from reading every time
speaks. This might exhibit his attention to
the wife (regardless if feigned) or his
wanting to make his utterances clear.
To this the wife remains irresponsive.
Representative This string of utterances represents the wife
desire. This does not show any relation to
the preceding utterance of the husband.
The lexis ‘wanted’ is mentioned three times.
The repetition of the ‘wanted’ has an
empathic effect to the feeling of the wife.
Earlier in the text, a synonymous lexis
‘liked’ has also been repeated in a
narration. One can now make association
between the lexes ‘wanted’ and ‘kitty’ and
‘liked’ and ‘hotel owner’.

American wife: Don’t you
think it would be a good idea if
I let my hair grow out?
American husband: I like it
the way it is.
American wife: I get so tired
of it. I get so tired of looking
like a boy.
American husband: You look
pretty darn nice.
Finally the wife expresses her opinion of the
cat under the rain, how it ‘isn’t any fun’ for
the cat to be under the rain.
Directive This utterance flouts the maxim of
relevance. Grice suggested that when a
maxim is flouted, the implicature made is
one which the speaker really intends to
express. The utterance seems out of place.
But like the previous utterances made by
the wife, it also expresses her desire. For
the first time, the real predicament of the
wife is glimpsed in this utterance.
This utterance marks the shift of the
subject of the conversation and it will be
further demonstrated later.
Representative This utterance does not directly answer the
question of the wife however it expresses
his preference.
Representative The lady expresses her feeling about her
hair, about how her hair makes up her
appearance. Her utterance expresses her
concern about her appearance. The wife
said that she gets ‘so tired of it…so tired of
looking like a boy’. One can now say that
she doesn’t like something: her hair or how
it makes her look. Further, the wife’s
utterance expresses her despair over her
appearance. This may be a sign of the
insecurity of the wife.
The narration continues by saying ‘George
shifted his position in the bed. He hadn’t
looked away from her since she started to
speak’.
This narration may give further cue to the
feeling of the husband toward the
sentiment of the wife. It is safe to claim
that the husband is not paying attention to
what the wife is saying.
Representative This utterance asserts the husbands opinion
of her wife, specifically her preference. The
husband disagrees with the wife but the

American wife: I want to pull
my hair back tight and smooth
and make a big knot at the
back that I can feel.
I want to have a kitty to sit on
my lap and purr when I stroke
her.
American husband: Yeah?
American wife: And I want to
eat at a table with my own
silver and I want candles. And I
want it to be spring and I want
to brush my hair out in front of
a mirror and I want a kitty and
I want some new clothes.
utterance only subtly expresses his
disagreement by concealing it in a
compliment. The husband even made use
of the empathic exclamation ‘darn’.
Representative The wife continues to express what she
wants. This time she falls into a whimsical
expression of what she would do had she a
long hair.
There seems to be a jerk in the utterance
when the wife shifts back to the previous
subject of the conversation which is the cat.
Once again the maxim of relevance is
flouted.
Directive This is an indirect speech act for it is a
directive speech act in the declarative form.
This response of the husband seems thrifty
rather than restrain. We may account to it
the indifference of the husband, evident in
the shortening response of the husband, or
that the husband is running out of things to
say. The former is more probable for it
supported in the text.
Representative This string of utterances finally reveals the
predicament of the wife, reinforcing the
claim made earlier. Once again, there is the
preponderance of the lexis ‘want’. Want
occurs seven times in the utterance. Want,
a transitive verb, assumes the following
objects: ‘to eat at a table with my own
silver’, ‘candles’, ‘it to be spring’, ‘to brush
may hair out in front of the mirror’, ‘a kitty’,
‘some new clothes’.
There is the sliding back of the thought
again to the subject cat. This has been
earlier observed, demonstrating the jolt in
the thought of the wife. The reason for this
jolting may be explained by later
utterances.
One might judge that the wife begins to
continue babbling irrelevant matters. This
introduction of seemingly irrelevant

American husband: Oh, shut
up and get something to read.
American wife: Anyway, I
want a cat. I want a cat. I want
a cat now. If I can’t have long
hair or any fun, I can have a
cat.
expression of the wife’s desire leads not
only to what the wife wanted to say all
along but also to the relationship between
the couple.
Expressive/ This speech act has the twofold function of
Directive expressing the annoyance of the husband
and directing the wife to stop her babbling
and do some other things.
The directive ‘oh shut up’ is a culturally
powerful expression that it inevitably
weaves expressiveness to its directive goal.
What is interesting is what the husband
suggests for the wife to do. He tells the
wife to get to read, the same thing he is
doing. The husband has been reading since
the exposition of the narrative and shows
only slight change from the initial act.
The husband might be very engrossed with
what he was reading. It might also be the
mean of the husband to avoid conversation,
especially to evade the subject of the
conversation. If this was true, the husband
might be suggesting the wife to quit her
bickering.
In the following utterance of the wife, the
perlocutionary effect of this utterance shall
be seen. A perlocutionary effect is the
influence of the speech act to the
addressee regardless of the initial intention
of the utterance called illocutionary act
(Searle, 1969).
Representative The utterance of the wife becomes even
more insistent. The representative ‘I want a
cat’ has been repeated three times that the
utterance becomes empathic. This means
that the illocutionary act of the husband, to
silence the wife, is not successful.
However, she draws back to her previous
object of wanting: the cat. The wife
asserted that if she couldn’t have ‘any fun’
or other things she ‘liked’, at least she can

American husband: Avanti
(Come forward/ come in).
Maid: Excuse me.
The padrone (innkeeper) asked
me to bring this for the Signora.
have a cat.
Somehow the cat has become the subject
that opened the conversation about the
desire of the wife. It’s seems a key element
that allows the wife to bring out the issue
of the incapacity of the husband to provide
for the wife or of the failure of the husband
to satisfy the wife. But this claim may be
premature and needs further analysis of the
text.
One might ask, why a cat and why a cat in
the rain. Further discussion might shed light
to this choice of the author.
The narration that followed directly
expressed that the husband was not
listening. It also shows that the couple
assumed the position (physical space)
they were in at the exposition.
George was not listening. He was
reading his book. His wife looked
out of the window where the light
had come on in the square.
This might represent the state of mind of
the couple, a state that has been upset by
the attempt of the wife to speak out her
feelings. Now, however, things have
assumed their places again, as signified by
the physical space.
Directive A narration precedes this utterance. The
maid knocks on the door.
This directive is given by the husband to
the person knocking on the door.
Directive This expression is a directive speech act
usually made at the beginning of the
utterance.
Representative
This utterance expresses that the made has
brought something for the wife, as asked
by the hotel owner. However in the
utterance, the object brought by the maid is
 not indicated.

The object is revealed by the this preceding

narration: She held a big tortoise shell cat
pressed tight against her and swung down
against her body.

The choice of the author on the breed of

the cat should not be disregarded. In the
book of Finegan and Rickford, entitled
Language the USA: Themes for the Twenty-
first Century, they discussed that a tortoise
shell cat, also called a money cat,
symbolizes money because of its golden
patches on it fur. Also, it is believed in
many cultures, tortoise shell cat, because of
their color, is believed to bring luck
(Hartwell, 1995).

On this perspective of the cat a signifier for

money or luck, the cat, then, wouldn’t
sound so out of place together with eating
at a table with her own silver, candles,
spring, and brushing her hair out in front of
the mirror, luxuries that, at the time, the
wife is not enjoying.

However, this is just to present a probable

explanation of the significance of the cat to
the predicament of the wife.

Synthesis

Taking in all the points assumed and cited in the analysis, one can now form a judgement about
the relation between the wife and the husband. The analysis highlighted the desire of the wife
to express her feelings and the husband’s ignorance if not repression of these feelings. The
narrative also shows the impressive contrast between the husband and the innkeeper. The
innkeeper has only one utterance in the narrative yet it is an affirmation to the opinion of the
wife. The husband, on the contrary, does not show any sign of yielding or affirmation to the
wife. Moreover, the contrast is emphasized by the gesture of the innkeeper of bringing the cat
to the wife. It shows the responsiveness of the innkeeper to the wife. The gesture of the
husband on the other hand, lying on the bed and barely resting from his reading, shows his
irresponsiveness.
 The cat too, as the object of the wife’s fixation, plays a very important role in the
narrative. It has been discussed that the cat is the trigger in the voicing of the wife and as to
why a cat has been chosen by the author has somehow been explained as a symbol for money
or luck. This view emphasizes the caprice of the wife.

Also the preponderance of the words under the semantic category of ‘like’ may lead to a
significant judgement that the wife is preoccupied by her caprices. However, this exhibition of
the capriciousness of the wife might still lead one into a deeper layer of subtext. This might be
one of the means of the wife of saying to the husband ‘pay attention to my feelings’.

The story Cat in the Rain tells of a wife who wants a relief from his dysfunctional
relationship with his husband. She feels that the husband is not paying attention to her feelings
and to what she really needs. She tries to preoccupy herself by diverting her attention to trivial
things but her real thoughts leak out. The husband, not fond of conversing the dysfunction to
the wife, tries to condescend her and evade the drama. At the end the wife triumphs when she
receives from the innkeeper something the husband can’t provide.

This analysis presented insights to the vignette Cat in the Rain. Utterances were
subjected to analysis. Specifically, the analysis identified speech acts and implicatures and
through that insights were formed. The claims made herein only suggest insights and are not to
be treated as conclusive. Further analysis should be performed using other approaches and
methods.

References

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. London: Oxford University Press.

Finegan, E. & Rickford, J. (2004). Language in the USA: Themes for the twenty-first
century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. Philosophy of Language, 165-175.

Hartwell, S. (1995). Feline folklores – Cats and superstition _________.

Hemingway, E. (1997). The short stories: The forty-nine stories with a brief introduction by
the author (1st Scribner Classics ed.). New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster Inc.).

Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.
Stylistic Analysis

Text: Cat in the Rain

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Genre: Short story

Analysis by: Byron Paul C. Beadoy

Presented to: Ma. Asuncion Christine V. Dequilla, Ph.D.