Cat in the Rain Gender Quotes

Shifting over to George's point of view here, Hemingway tells us pretty directly how George sees his wife—as boyish. He isn't looking at her face, which presumably isn't boyish; instead, he's looking straight at the part of her that isn't feminine and he seems to approve of it. Why?

Think about the specific words here. The wife simply states that she gets "so tired of looking like a boy." It's specifically appearing boyish that she gets tired of, and interesting to think about why. Might it affect the way others treat her? Does it make her identify herself in a less feminine way? There are a lot of different ways to interpret this.

You always want what you don't have. Again, there's no explicit reason given by the woman as to why she wants this—it's just the complete opposite of her short hair, which gives her nothing to hold or hold onto. Also, there's an adjective here that should buzz a little for you. That's right: "tight." Where else does it come up in this short, short story? How do those others instances influence its meaning here?