{"id":8037,"date":"2024-07-02T10:26:41","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lecturia.org\/?p=8037"},"modified":"2026-01-28T22:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T02:50:10","slug":"ernest-hemingway-cat-in-the-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/short-stories\/ernest-hemingway-cat-in-the-rain\/8037\/","title":{"rendered":"Ernest Hemingway: Cat in the Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis:<\/strong> \u201cCat in the Rain\u201d is a short story by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1925 in the book In Our Time<\/em>. In an Italian hotel facing the sea, an American couple spends a gray and rainy day. From the window, the woman looks out at a deserted garden and notices a cat trying to shelter from the rain under a table. Moved by compassion, she decides to go down and look for it while her husband stays in the room reading. The journey through the hotel, the attentive treatment of the owner, and the constant rain frame an everyday scene that barely hides the emotional distance, lack of communication, and atmosphere of dissatisfaction surrounding the couple.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Ernest<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Cat in the Rain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ernest Hemingway
(Full text)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THERE WERE ONLY TWO AMERICANS stopping at the hotel. They did not know any of the people they passed on the stairs on their way to and from their room. Their room was on the second floor facing the sea. It also faced the public garden and the war monument. There were big palms and green benches in the public garden. In the good weather there was always an artist with his easel. Artists liked the way the palms grew and the bright colors of the hotels facing the gardens and the sea. Italians came from a long way off to look up at the war monument. It was made of bronze and glistened in the rain. It was raining. The rain dripped from the palm trees. Water stood in pools on the gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain. The motor cars were gone from the square by the war monument. Across the square in the doorway of the caf\u00e9 a waiter stood looking out at the empty square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American wife stood at the window looking out. Outside right under their window a cat was crouched under one of the dripping green tables. The cat was trying to make herself so compact that she would not be dripped on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going down and get that kitty,\u201d the American wife said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do it,\u201d her husband offered from the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019ll get it. The poor kitty out trying to keep dry under a table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The husband went on reading, lying propped up with the two pillows at the foot of the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get wet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wife went downstairs and the hotel owner stood up and bowed to her as she passed the office. His desk was at the far end of the office. He was an old man and very tall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIl piove,\u201d<\/em> the wife said. She liked the hotel-keeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cS\u00ec<\/em>, s\u00ec, Signora, brutto tempo<\/em>. It\u2019s very bad weather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stood behind his desk in the far end of the dim room. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liking him she opened the door and looked out. It was raining harder. A man in a rubber cape was crossing the empty square to the caf\u00e9. The cat would be around to the right. Perhaps she could go along under the eaves. As she stood in the doorway an umbrella opened behind her. It was the maid who looked after their room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou must not get wet,\u201d she smiled, speaking Italian. Of course, the hotel-keeper had sent her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the maid holding the umbrella over her, she walked along the gravel path until she was under their window. The table was there, washed bright green in the rain, but the cat was gone. She was suddenly disappointed. The maid looked up at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHa perduto qualche cosa, Signora?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a cat,\u201d said the American girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA cat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSi, il gatto.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA cat?\u201d the maid laughed. \u201cA cat in the rain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201cunder the table.\u201d Then, \u201cOh, I wanted it so much. I wanted a kitty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she talked English the maid\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome, Signora,\u201d she said. \u201cWe must get back inside. You will be wet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI suppose so,\u201d said the American girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went back along the gravel path and passed in the door. The maid stayed outside to close the umbrella. As the American girl passed the office, the padrone bowed from his desk. Something felt very small and tight inside the girl. The padrone made her feel very small and at the same time really important. She had a momentary feeling of being of supreme importance. She went on up the stairs. She opened the door of the room. George was on the bed, reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you get the cat?\u201d he asked, putting the book down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWonder where it went to,\u201d he said, resting his eyes from reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She sat down on the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted it so much,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know why I wanted it so much. I wanted that poor kitty. It isn\u2019t any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George was reading again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She went over and sat in front of the mirror of the dressing table looking at herself with the hand glass. She studied her profile, first one side and then the other. Then she studied the back of her head and her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you think it would be a good idea if I let my hair grow out?\u201d she asked, looking at her profile again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George looked up and saw the back of her neck, clipped close like a boy\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like it the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get so tired of it,\u201d she said. \u201cI get so tired of looking like a boy.\u201d George shifted his position in the bed. He hadn\u2019t looked away from her since she started to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou look pretty darn nice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She laid the mirror down on the dresser and went over to the window and looked out. It was getting dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to pull my hair back tight and smooth and make a big knot at the back that I can feel,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to have a kitty to sit on my lap and purr when I stroke her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah?\u201d George said from the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, shut up and get something to read,\u201d George said. He was reading again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His wife was looking out of the window. It was quite dark now and still raining in the palm trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyway, I want a cat,\u201d she said, \u201cI want a cat. I want a cat now. If I can\u2019t have long hair or any fun, I can have a cat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone knocked at the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAvanti\u201d<\/em>, George said. He looked up from his book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the doorway stood the maid. She held a big tortoise-shell cat pressed tight against her and swung down against her body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcuse me,\u201d she said, \u201cthe padrone asked me to bring this for the Signora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE END<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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