Analysis of Cat in the rain from the Perspective of Semiotic Square

【Abstract】Through the analysis of Cat in the rain from the point of Semiotic Square， this paper aims to reveal the heroine ‘s respective relationship with cat， the hotel owner and her husband and point out the heroine longs for a dependent life and identifies with the patriarchal authority.

【Key words】Semiotic Square； Cat in the rain； narrative mode

【作者簡介】謝曉（1986- ），女，漢族，河南平輿人，碩士，重慶第二師范學(xué)院助教。

Cat in the rain is one of the well-known short stories written by Ernest Hemingway.Through the process of the protagonists saving the cat， looking for the cat， and finally getting the cat， a sense of womens longing for independence and freedom is shown.Readers could sense the heroine wants to be herself instead of a wife living under the shadow of the husband.In this paper， we will try to approach the story in the way of semiotic square to get something new.

Semiotic square is a method for researching literary works suggested by the French structuralist A-J-Gremas.It derives from the two kinds of propositions invented by Aristotle in his logics.Influenced by the idea of binary oppositions employed by another French structuralist Levi-Strauss in his reasearch in the field of Anthropology， Gremas combined the two kinds of propositions and binary oppositions together， thus， leading to his own semiotic square.The introduction of semiotic square changes the usually-used two elements into four， which enriches the contents of the structure， and make it easier to analyse literture from the perspective of structure.The semiotic square is like this： name one item as X， then its opposite side is anti-X.It has also a different chance.Its opposite side contradicts with X， but they dont stand agains each other， which we can call it Non-X， the， we also have Non-anti-X.Thus， the semiotic square is as follows：

As Gremas said：“Literary story dirives from the oppositions between X and Anti-X...With the development of these elements， story is finished.”Structuralist holds that binary oppositions are the basic ways of producing sense and meanings.Greimas belived that the sense of oppositions people get from things made up the basis of semiotic structures.Due to binary oppositions， we feel the difference， through which， the world is presented before us.

I. The semiotic square in Cat in the rain

The story describes a casual scene of the life of an American couple who came to Italy for their holiday. They lived in a hotel facing the sea， the park and the war monument.It was a rainy day.The wife was looking out of the window when she noticed a cat outside crouching under a table. Seeing this， a thought came into her mind that she was to bring the cat into the room.When she went downstairs and passed the office， the innkeeper talked with her in a kind way， which made her feel like him for his politeness and consideration. When she got outside， the cat had been gone. The wife seemed a bit disappointed with this. After she returned the room， she sat down before the dresser and looked herself in the mirror.Then the wife blurted out a list of“I want... which received an only reply of “shut up”from the husband.The wife （unnamed in the story） was the protagonist， which can be regarded as the X in the semiotic square. The husband （named George）， who stands on the opposite side is the anti-X. The cat， closely related with the wifes thought， is the non-X. Then the innkeeper is the non-anti-X. So the semiotic square formed by the four semantic elements in the story is as follows

Now， the relations of the characters in the story are clear： the wife and the husband are in direct opposition， which forms the main line of the story.The cat， as the complementality of the wife， acted as the trigger to establish the opposition； it is also where the theme of the story lies. Separated by the axial line， we can clearly see the four semantic elements are located in world A and world B.The wife and the cat in world A are in direct opposition to the husband and in indirect opposition to the innkeeper.Despite that the husband and the innkeeper hold different attitudes towards the wife， they both belong to world B and are same in essence.The deep structure derived from the square determined the true meaning of the story and leads readers to reflect on it.

II. An analysis of binary oppositions in the story

The story is set in a hotel on a rainy day. Few people could be seen outside the window.This gives a sense of boredom and oppression.The lady looked out of the window when she noticed a cat in the rain.She wanted it. So she got out to look for it.In literature， cat is always related to woman and is often employed to imply woman.Here， its obvious that the woman has a special feeling for the cat.From the text， we know that when she got out， the cat had been gone and this made her feel a bit upset. “Oh， I wanted it so much.” She said. After the wife returned the room， she said this to her husband again， “I dont know why I wanted it so much. I wanted that poor kitty.” Obviously， the ladys feelings for the cat are not only sympathy， but also something else.Her feelings for the cat are， in fact， feelings for herself.Her desire to get the cat out of the rain is an impulse to get her out of the dilemma of the family. They have the same destiny.But， after all， the cat and the lady are not the same.From the square， we see that although the lady and the cat are both in world A， they are two aspects of the contradiction.The cat is not only a shadow of the lady， but also a reflection of the ladys inner desire. Something felt very small and tight inside the girl.The padrone made her feel very small and at the same time really important. She had a momentary feeling of being of supreme importance.From the text， we know that the husband was rather indifferent with his wife， under which， the wife received little love.From this point， the assumptions above do make senses.The relation of the lady and the cat acts as the incentive for the oppositions to form.What the lady wants is to save the cat in the rain by herself， which symbolizes that she could rescue herself from the patriarchal world. But obviously she failed.

Obviously， the loss of the cat stimulates the wife to express herself. Long period of oppression broke out at the moment. But for the wifes wishes， the husband said：“shut up and get something to read.”The husbands reply means the failure of the wifes wishes. And for this， the wife could do nothing but said： “Anyway， I want a cat， ”O(jiān)bviously， he wife failed to destroy the inequality between men and women， which also means the stability of the opposition between world A and world B. The oppositions of the two worlds reflect the inequality between men and women.Compared with the husbands mercilessness， the innkeeper was a good man. But they are in the same world and represents the same thing in essence.The cat sent by the innkeeper to the lady cant change anything.The inequality never changes.

The structure of the story is based on the oppositions and contradictions of the characters. Through the appearance and development of the contradictions， the story came into being. We can get an abstract square from the analysis above.

The wife represents feminine quality and the cat not-feminine quality. Obviously， the wife is different from the cat. The wife can express her feelings by the cat， but she could not solve the problems through the cat.Therefore， we can easily understand that it is meaningless when the innkeeper sent a cat to the lady. On the contrary， this killed the last hope that the lady held for the unexpected emergence of the cat. With the help of the square， we can easily figure out that the essential reason is the opposition between feminine and anti-feminine.The two are separated absolutely and cant come together.The only thing that relates the two worlds is contradiction.Both of them cant contain the other.Meanwhile， although the innkeeper is different from the husband， they are in the same world and are same in essence in terms of anti-feminine.But the contradiction between the two worlds and the inequality between man and woman lasts from the beginning to the end. Therefore， the innkeeper would not become the savior of the lady.Unless the gap of the two worlds are broken down， the wife couldnt change anything.

III. Conclusion

The semiotic square is a structuralist way to analyze literary works. It offers us a fresh perspective to look into literary story. With the help of the semiotic square， we can clearly figure out the essential reason that leads to the contradiction of the story. The unfriendly relation between the husband and the wife is reflected in the square in the form of oppositions between two worlds， which enable us to understand the issue that the story considers. Besides this， the semiotic square shows the relations between the lady and the cat as well as the relations between the lady and the innkeeper， which inspires us to make deep research into these fields. We have talked about the plots and the characters in the story， but a lot more can be found in the square.

References：

[1]格雷馬斯.結(jié)構(gòu)語義學(xué)[M].蔣梓驊，譯.天津：百花文藝出版社， 2001：88.

[2]朱立元.當(dāng)代西方文藝?yán)碚揫M].上海：華東師范大學(xué)出版社，2002： 253.