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Communication In Ernest Hemingway's 'Cat In The Rain'

943 Words4 Pages

Communication in a society is grounded on the shared aims of people. However, not always individuals or even separate societies tend to understand each other. The complex action of exchanging the views and ideas has also become one of the major sources to the questions discussed and portrayed in art, specifically in literature. Ernest Hemingway, the 20th century’s American novelist and short story writer, tend to touch upon some problematic points in personal and national communication and understanding of each other, too. His short story “Cat in the Rain” (1925) is a perfect example. In this writing, Hemingway’s economical and concise style of writing goes along with his superior ability to grasp the sense of underlying communicational problems which rise from otherness and misrecognition of each other. Thus, this essay focuses on the cases of cultural and personal conflicts and its effects to miscommunication prominent in this short story.

Firstly, “Cat in the Rain” develops the otherness between two cultures, namely Italian and American. The story takes place in Italy, at and outside the hotel in which “only two Americans”, George and his wife, stay at. Near the hotel, there is the sea, the public garden with big palms and green benches, and, the war monument. This “bright colored” scenery was painted by the artists and the war monument was visited by the Italian tourists who “came from a long way”. These details let presume that the couple is also tourists on their

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