In his short story Cat in the Rain, Ernest Hemingway uses imagery and
subtlety to convey to the reader that the relationship between the
American couple is in crisis and is quite clearly dysfunctional. In
other words, the reader has to have a symbolic reading of the images.
In fact, what seems to be a simple tale of an American couple spending
a rainy afternoon inside their hotel room serves as a great metaphor
for their relationship. This symbolic imagery, hided behind common
objects, gives the story all its significance.
This short story contains a great number of striking and literary
symbols. In a symbolic reading, the opening paragraph describes the
crisis that exists in the marriage of the couple. In other words, the
description of the bad weather, of the "empty square"[1](l.10) and of
their isolation, reflects this conflict and also sets the negative
mood. In fact, since the beginning, Ernest Hemingway insists on the
isolation of the couple that "does not know any