In Our Time 8 - "Cat in the Rain" - A Class Discussion
“I wanted it so much,” she said. “I don’t know why I wanted it so much. I wanted that poor kitty.
It isn’t any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain.”
No Fun - A Class Discussion of "Cat in the Rain" : "Cat in the Rain" is an amazing story about a woman who is completely fed up with her husband's patronizing attitude. It is told from her perspective - and I often hold it up as an example to those who claim that all of Hemingway's writing contains toxic masculinity. This story certainly doesn't. The story is short enough that it can be read aloud in class (by the students) and discussed after the reading. I've also included a Group Work that I used once or twice when it was impossible for me to be in class. This is the story that inspired the first-ever Illuminated Text. After it was assigned, a student handed me a cd with the Illuminated Text (a Power Point animation) on it - and asked me to take a look at it. It was amazing, and started a revolution in explicating text (you can see a part of it in the banner below - and the full Illuminated Text is linked below).
Lesson Overview
Reading the Story Aloud
After the quiz - we read the story aloud. Please see my page on reading aloud in class. I do ask the students to mark up their texts as we read with their own questions and observations. For the most part, this is the second time that they will have read "Cat in the Rain" - the first time being when they read it for homework. What a great story (short and to the point) to read twice. I ask the students, as we read to look for the following (and anything else they find important):
Imagery (what are the pictures being painted?)
The relationship between the couple
metaphors that may show that relationship or the individuals
how they treat each other - and are treated by others
The Discussion (after reading the story aloud)
If there are separate Lesson Notes for this story - I have not yet located them. I believe in recent years that I relied on my very heavily noted text to conduct the story. That notated text can be found below. This kind of a discussion is especially doable when you have read the story aloud in class.
Part I - Imagery
I ask the students to look at the second half of the very first paragraph. Do they see any very specific imagery? WATER - lots and lots of water. see, rain, dripped, water, pools....etc. See my note below
Part II - Plot
So then I will ask for a volunteer to briefly tell us the plot. This is important to gage comprehension and engagement.
Part III - An Organic Discussion
I love organic discussions that lead naturally from one point to the next and I will ask the students "What they thought of the story?" Of the couple? Of the padrone? Etc. What do THEY want to talk about?
Here are some of the things that should come up (if not bring them up yourself)
How would you characterize their relationship?
Does George really care about his wife? What specific text tells you so? (Nope! He offers to do things but doesn't mean it - the kids TOTALLY get this)
Who does care about her? (The padrone) What text tells you so?
What does the woman want? Outwardly? Beyond the surface?
What does the man want from the woman? (To dress and cut her hair in a way that pleases HIM). (To stop whining)
Why does she want that cat in the rain? (She sees it as herself - she is drowning)
Who ends up getting it for her? (The padrone). Is it the same cat? (it doesn't matter).
Finally - I play the "Cat in the Rain" Illuminated Text found below (by Jenny Lee)
catintherain2.mp4"Cat in the Rain" Illuminated Text by Jenny Lee
As I said above - this is not only an incredible Illuminated Text that does a great job in explicating the story. It was done by a student - Jenny Lee - completely on our her own. She read and loved the story and she was an artist and wanted to create something out of it - so she gave me this. In turn, I then made this into a project for all of my students and shared it at NCTE and other venues - and now Illuminated Texts are done all over - Thank you Jenny!
"Cat in the Rain " Text with my Notes
The reading contains my lesson notes for my Ringer Master Teacher directed Class Discussion as well as the notes that I took on the text. The imagery part of the lesson is also found on this page with all of the water images circled.
Group Work (an alternative to discussion)
Most Recent Handout
I really believe this lesson works best as a discussion - but this is an alternative. One or more years, I couldn't be in class that day so I created a Group Work for the students to work on so we wouldn't fall behind. It covers much of what we do in the discussion.
catintherain_2015.mp3Class Recordings
Audio of our discussion of "Cat in the Rain" from In Our Time.
There is enough time that we can actually read the entire story during class - though I give the students a few minutes before we begin to find something that they absolutely want to talk about during the discussion. We then read and stop - questions, comments, ideas coming from both me and the students. I love seeing how every year students view this story differently - sometimes seeing the "American wife" as someone drowning under her husband's indifference - sometimes seeing her as a petulant whiner. We end the discussion as we always do - with a viewing of Jennie Lee's amazing illuminated text of the story (please go to the website and watch along with us when the video gets to that point).
Quiz
Most Recent Quiz
The first quiz is only "Cat in the Rain" - the second quiz contains two other stories - in case you are teaching the entire book. You may not get a chance to discuss every story but you want to make sure they are reading everything.
"Cat in the Rain" - text
This is a copy of the text for students. It is formatted with plenty of room in the margins to take notes on (remember the students should have their bookmarks and poems before, handy). The novel, published before 1930, is in the Public Domain.
In Our Time - online copy
This is a complete copy of the book - found at the Internet Archive , complete with the Interchapters. The book was originally posted by the Harold B. Lee Library. The work, published before 1930, is in the Public Domain.
Remote Enhancements
I did do this as a discussion remotely and it worked wonderfully.
Like it Was - "Hills Like White Elephants" Partner Work: As a teacher, nothing was more exciting to me than when a student discovered or understood something on their own. Hemingway's story, "Hills Like White Elephants", though not from In Our Time, gives students just such a chance. I remember first reading this in college - and I didn't "get it" - and it had to be pointed out by a friend of mine. But when I did see what was causing the underlying tension in the story - of course it all made wonderful sense. The story is also perfect for illustrating what Hemingway calls the "Iceberg Theory" - the idea that by leaving major plot points OUT of a story - it helps create even more tension than if it had been said explicitly. The partners read the story by themselves mark it up - then find a partner to complete the rest. If they get stuck there are some very helpful quotes that they can get from the teacher.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Students love this story - as evidenced by the birth of Illuminated Texts - but even beyond that. Every year students would comment on how identifiable the characters are - either in an older generation or even themselves.