Modern psychology, although a relatively new and largely still debated scientific field, focuses not on how people do certain things, but on why. Most people would agree that modern psychology began with Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s. Freud's most important work concerns his belief in the subconscious mind, a place that, although we are unaware of impact, secretly plays a role in the things we say, do and even dream. Since then, psychology has continued to grow and develop thanks to B.F. Skinner, Pavlov, Maslow, and other collaborators who have continued to evolve Freud's initial thoughts and make great strides toward understanding why humans act and they react in certain ways. Freud stated that literature itself was a kind of “daydream” and that the author could be psychoanalyzed based on his writings (Lynn 200). According to Lynn, the critic must “go beyond the biological facts to expose the underlying motivation” (200). Additionally, a critic might also psychoanalyze a character within the text to try to bring to the surface what the character's true motivations are, which may also provide some clues about the author. To effectively perform a psychological critique in terms of a character within a text, the critic must be creative and have a general understanding of psychological terms to "diagnose" the character, which will ultimately bring the character's motivations to the forefront . the first floor. For the purposes of psychological criticism, the short stories of modernist Ernest Hemingway, especially his relationship-oriented short story "The Cat in the Rain," are particularly informative. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Ernest Hemingway's short story "Cat in the Rain" tells the story of a young American couple traveling to Italy after the war. The married couple are the only Americans in a small hotel near the ocean. It's raining, so they're stuck together in their tiny hotel room, and the wife is looking out the window when she notices a cat crouched under a table trying to keep dry. The wife tells her husband, “It's no fun being a kitten in the rain” (Hemingway 93). The wife goes out to save the cat, but when she goes around the building, the cat is no longer there. The wife returns to the hotel room, where her husband George is still reading. He continues to ignore her as she tells him all the things she wants: a cat, long hair, silver, a table, and new clothes (Hemingway 94). George tells her to shut up. At the end of the story, the hotel maid brings a cat into the room, although it is unclear whether or not it is the same cat as outside. The American woman manages to give many aspects of her psyche to analyze, despite the story being only three pages long. There is evidence of both isolation and displacement, both coping mechanisms that the woman uses to deal with being ignored by her husband and desires a stable, more domestic life. Ultimately, the cat in the rain becomes a symbol of what the woman truly wants – a domestic life – and of the woman's isolation and displacement. Throughout the story, the American woman is repeatedly ignored by her husband George. The first case occurs when the woman first says that she wants to go out and help the kitten. Her husband offers to go get it for her, but he never looks up from the book or makes any gesture to get up (Hemingway 91). The woman says she wants to go and ventures under therain to retrieve the cat. Seeing that the cat is no longer theirs, the woman returns to her hotel room, where her husband is still reading in bed. He asks her if she found it, but goes back to reading before she answers him. When she ponders the possibility of letting her hair grow, he simply says that he likes it just the way it is (Hemingway 95). The wife then goes on to talk about all the things she wants: “And I want to eat at the table with my silverware and I want candles. And I want it to be spring and I want to brush my hair in front of a mirror and I want a kitten and I want new clothes” (Hemingway 96). George's response is simply, "Oh, shut up and get something to read" (Hemingway 96). The wife continues to insist that she wants a cat, but Hemingway makes it clear that the husband is not listening to her reflections. In this story it is evident that the marriage is clearly missing something and that the wife is not dealing with the situation in a healthy and mentally sound way. Despite being repeatedly ignored and even insulted, the wife never seems to react directly to her husband's mistreatment. Psychologically, this is known as isolation, which means “understanding that something should be upsetting but failing to react to it” (Lynn 205). The fact that the wife does not react to her husband's rudeness implies that perhaps she is immune to this behavior, which means that it is a common occurrence. In “We're All Cats in the Rain,” White describes her husband's behavior as “[refusing to indulge] the child in her” (White 253). The wife should report her husband's behavior or, at the very least, show some physical signs of annoyance. Instead, however, he doesn't even react at all. However, his lack of reaction is enough evidence to show that he is using isolation as a coping mechanism. She is clearly unhappy in her marriage and appears to be accustomed to his behavior. Another coping mechanism we see the American Wife use repeatedly is displacement, which Lynn says means “moving an emotion from its true goal to a different one” (203). ). The woman puts this defense mechanism into practice in two cases. The first is with the cat itself. He becomes fixated on wanting the cat he sees outside in the rain. In fact, he verbally mentions the cat's wish ten times in the three pages of the story. The cat becomes the symbol of what he truly desires: something to take care of. Many past critics have speculated that the cat represents a child, but I'm not convinced. The woman simply wants something to take care of and something to receive affection from. The other case occurs with the hotel owner at the beginning of the story. She likes it a lot, a worrying amount, when all she does is her job. The text repeats the redundancy used with the cat: “She liked the deadly serious way in which he received complaints. She liked his dignity. She liked the way he wanted to serve her… She liked it…. She liked it…. She liked him… (Hemingway 92). It's his job to make sure she has a pleasant stay, but instead of recognizing that she's doing a good job, she overreacts to his service, mistaking it for affection. She loses his attention because she is starved for affection and just wants to be listened to and treated like she matters. Ultimately, the key symbol of the story is the cat. The cat triggers the idea in her that he might have something to care for and receive affection from, and that idea clearly resonates with her. She longs for stability, her table and her long hair, things she associates with the domestic lifestyle. Hemingway's Theater of Masculinity describes his obsession with the cat as a result of "lack of physical and emotional support from 241-6.