Cat in the Rain

“There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel. They did not know any of the people they passed on the stairs on their way to and from their room.”

This excerpt points out the isolation of the two main characters. They are the only two Americans, but it’s revealed later that “the American wife” speaks and understands at least some Italian. Their isolation, then, is by choice and not a result of a language barrier.

“The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain.”

In this excerpt, Hemingway employs repetition to mimic the rhythmic motion of the sea: The water breaks, slips back, comes up, breaks again. Hemingway also employs a type of repetition called epanalepsis. In this type of repetition, the writer uses a word or phrase at the beginning of a clause and repeats it at the end of the clause. Here, Hemingway repeats “in a long line in the rain” near the beginning and at the end of the sentence, with the intervening image of the water moving back and forth against the shore. The combination of visual images—the movement of the waves and the way they break in a long line—establishes the tone, both monotonous and melancholy.

“The American wife stood at the window looking out.”

This simple description of the wife conveys that she longs for something outside of not just her room but also her life.