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The Cat
The bronze war monument visible from the hotel room that the American wife shares with her husband George symbolizes the violence and destruction of the First World War (1914-1918). Given that the story is set shortly after the War, Hemingway uses the monument to draw the reader’s attention to that recent history of bloodshed and destruction. The narrator’s comment that Italian sightseers come from afar to look at it further reinforces the significance of the monument as a token of that recent devastation—to the Italians, it is a reminder of the loss and sacrifice that resulted from the conflict.
The War Monument Quotes in Cat in the Rain
The Cat in the Rain quotes below all refer to the symbol of The War Monument. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Cat in the Rain
Quotes
Italians came from a long way off to look up at the war monument. It was made of bronze and glistened in the rain. It was raining. The rain dripped from the palm trees. Water stood in pools on the gravel paths…The motor cars were gone from the square by the war monument.
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The War Monument Symbol Timeline in Cat in the Rain
The timeline below shows where the symbol The War Monument appears in Cat in the Rain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Cat in the Rain
...there. They have a room that faces onto the sea, the public garden, and the war monument . When the weather is nice, artists paint in the public garden, attracted by the...
(full context)
The war monument is a point of interest for Italian sightseers, who come from far off to look...
(full context)
...the gravel paths. The sea advances and retreats in the rain. The square by the war monument is empty of motor cars. In a café doorway, a waiter stands alone looking out...
(full context)
