George's reading indicates his selfishness and his emotional separation from his wife and her needs. He remains in the room reading while she goes outside in the rain to search for the cat that is so important to her. The hotel maid and padrone, both strangers to her, are more sensitive to her feelings than George. It is the maid who had stood in the rain, holding an umbrella for her, while she had looked for the cat.
When she returns and says the cat is gone, George offers only a casual response, wondering where the cat had gone. Much can be inferred, though, by what George doesn't say. He doesn't say he is sorry; he doesn't offer her hope that perhaps the cat will come back. He doesn't suggest that the two of them go look again. George doesn't acknowledge her sadness or offer any words to comfort her. When she tries, once again, to tell him how she feels, he doesn't listen; he has resumed reading.
When she had come back inside, she had felt "important" because the padrone had shown interest in her feelings and her need to find the cat. We can infer that feeling important is not how she usually feels. George does not say or do anything to make her feel important because she is not important to him. Her life with George is one of emotional deprivation.
No comments:
Post a Comment