| Cats in Western civilization assume many cultural connotations, and appear in literary works frequently, especially short stories. Among short stories concerning cat images in British and American literature, six short stories are selected as texts for study: “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cat that Walked by Himself” by Rudyard Kipling, “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway, “Fraulein Schwartz” by Radclyffe Hall, “An Old Woman and Her Cat” by Doris Lessing, and “The White Cat” by Joyce Oates. This thesis explores relations between the cat and the Other in various contexts from the perspective of gaze.Firstly, the thesis explores relations of a stray cat and the cultural Other under ethnical gaze, based on “An Old Woman and Her Cat” and “Cat in the Rain”, arguing that Hetty and the American wife, as cultural Other, are reduced to be objects of gaze, and doomed to be oppressed. Just as the wandering stray cat, the oriental Gypsy Hetty is excluded and banished from the Western society for she fails to comply with its social norms. The American wife abandons the cat in the rain and her American identity under the inductivity and oppression of European gaze, whose concrete performers are respectively the padrone and the maid.Secondly, this thesis deals with the relation between pet cats and women under male gaze, based on “The Black Cat”, “Cat in the Rain” and “The White Cat”, stating that women and cats are objects of male gaze and thus form a destiny community, which causes them to forge an alliance to resist male gaze jointly. The wife in “The Black Cat” and Pluto are turned into victims of male gaze despite their different attitudes towards male gaze: the wife completely internalizes male gaze, and Pluto tries to resist male gaze. The American wife and the tortoiseshell cat swing between resisting male gaze and yielding to it, for the American wife desires to break the traditional gender role, and simultaneously she is reluctant to part with the conventional female role, whereas the tortoiseshell cat craves the freedom of a wild cat and the easy and comfortable life particular to pet cat. Alissa and Miranda in “The White Cat” resist male gaze effectively through obtaining control over body and hysterical mimesis. Hence it can be implied that historical background plays a significant role in women's attitudes towards male gaze.Lastly, based on “The Black Cat”, “The White Cat”, “Fraulein Schwartz”, “The Cat that Walked by Himself” and “An Old Woman and Her Cat”, this thesis focuses on animals' subjectivity, displayed in rebellious actions of cats, which shows the writers' reflection on the issue of animal otheriaztion. And their own experience with cats further proves cats' subjectivity. The black cat created by Poe moves in accordance with rationality, whereas its master is often driven by instinct, thus human-animal boundary of rationality is blurred. Mr. Muir and Fraulein Schwartz are unable to neglect the gaze from cats, which hints that cats are accepted as ethical subjects. The indifference of the cat that walks by itself and Tibby to human beings represents that they still preserve independence and wild nature, and is also the result of anti-domestication.These cat images contribute a lot to highlighting cultural Other under ethnical gaze and female Other under male gaze, and demonstrating animal subjectivity, which shows the writers' human concern for the disadvantaged and cultural reflection on animal issues... |
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