Cat in the Rain Theme of Gender

Hemingway barely describes the American wife in "Cat in the Rain." Is she pretty? Is she tall? Is she a blonde or brunette? We have no idea. The only physical description we get is of her short haircut that she complains about to her mirror. She laments that she gets "tired" of "looking like a boy." Short hair on women is something we're pretty used to seeing now, but in the 1920s, this was not the case. The wife's hairstyle would have read as being much more overtly "boyish" than it would today—especially in a more traditional European setting like this Italian town.

In America, the style for women in this era leant towards androgyny: short haircuts and drop-waisted dresses that de-emphasized hips, waist, and bust. On the surface, this meant greater freedom for women, but it doesn't seem to be having this effect on the American wife. The fact that she is "tired" of such a relatively new and revolutionary trend is particularly notable.

Like all the other "liberated" aspects of the young couple's life-style—their intellectualism, their globetrotting, their non-materialism—Hemingway seems to be critiquing this progressive style as not entirely satisfying. He portrays a young woman who is longing to look like a woman and do traditionally feminine things. We might protest that Hemingway is being a little closed-minded about women and their roles here, but there could also be a larger critique of the celebration of "newness" and liberation at the time.

1. Why does George tell his wife that he likes her hair the way it is?
2. Does the wife actually want her husband's opinion about her appearance?
3. What is the difference between being called "the wife," "the girl," and "the signora"?
4. Are there moments in the story where George seems attracted to his wife as a woman?

While the "liberated" style of women during the 1920s would seem to have been enjoyable to women, the frustration of the American wife shows a more realistic ambivalence towards this neutralizing of gender roles. She may be "liberated" from the restraints of old-world traditions, but the wife also feels that she has lost some of her power.

There's a sudden shift in perspective in the story when George sees the wife's hair "clipped close like a boy's." Hemingway immediately follows with George's remark "'I like it the way it is'" (34), which suggests that the marriage, free and equal as the wife's modern haircut makes it appear, is founded on the husband's refusal to let his wife be different from himself.