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 what 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. Thus the difference between the cat and the woman
they are representing the same substance