The short story “Cat in the Rain” talks about an American couple

that is staying in an hotel in Italy, during a rainy evening. the main

character is the American wife who’s experiencing an unhappy
marriage with her husband George. She seems, from the beginning,
very frustrated, she sees a cat that is trying to protect himself from
the rain and she develops an urgent desire to rescue him and take
him with her. This seems at first a futile desire, but can be also seen
as a consequence of her unhappy and lonely marriage, George
doesn’t seem to care about her and want she is doing, he also
speaks to her like she is a little girl to take care of.

The America wife is trying to achieve her independence, she

demonstrates this by stating firmly and decisively her wishes, she
wants the cat and she repeats this many times, so much that she
seems kinda childish, she also wants to let her hair grow out because
she is tired of her hairstyle and wants a change. She is not passive,
she actually moves to obtain what she wants, in fact she goes
outside to take the cat with her.

She wants not only her independence but also to be seen as a

person and as an adult, this is the second reason she is so firm in
stating her wishes, and that’s why she feels fulfilled when the owner
of the hotel gives her attention, she feels important and she likes him
just because he sees her as an adult and not just as an American girl,
in fact he and the maid refer to her as “Signora”. The hotel-keeper in
the end makes the maid bring a cat to the American wife, here we
can see another clear difference between him and George: the hotel-
keeper not only pays attention to her but does something to make
her happy, George does neither of the two.