The rain is a common symbol of fertility or virility, and in this short story it is a fertility symbol. When the wife wants to go out and find the cat, her husband tells her not to get wet, meaning that he does not want her to get in lying like a hen. When the wife leaves, the hotel keeper lends her an umbrella, so she does not get wet, but in the same manner, he keeps her from fixing her marriage with her husband, by offering her comfort outside her marriage. The vignette is a scene with a horse being gored by a bull. The horse is in a great pain, but the vignette makes me equate the horse with the American girl, because she is also is in great pain, because her husband gores her feelings by being so distant. The message is that you should work on your marriage instead of finding comfort by another man or woman. It also tells that a woman in such a marriage also suffers, and that women have a worth, they are not just their husband’s toys, whenever he bothers to show his interest.