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Cats represent communal efforts—specifically those inspired by art—to overcome oppressive environments. They first appear in Margaret’s letter, which is covered in drawings of cats and a small door. That this small clue reminds Bird of a story his mother told him, and subsequently leads him to the cabinet where the two of them used to play pretend, speaks to the power and longevity of art and imagination. In the story, The Boy Who Drew Cats, the cats are drawings that come to life to kill the beast that lives in the house and terrorizes the surrounding village, symbolizing how collective effort can lead to victory.
Later, as Margaret enacts her artistic protest, she thinks of her broadcast as “drawing cat after cat, slipping them through the cracks. Unsure if they will sink even one claw into the beast outside.” In this metaphor, the stories of separated families are like a multitude of cats which Margaret hopes will sink their collective claws into the beast of PACT oppression. The actions of Margaret and other anonymous artists throughout the novel are small on their own, but together they may draw enough attention to wield influence and damage the oppressive systems they oppose.
Cats Quotes in Our Missing Hearts
The Our Missing Hearts quotes below all refer to the symbol of Cats. 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:
).
Part 3, Chapter 2
Quotes
She does not know if it will make any difference. She does not know if anyone is listening. She is here, locked in her cabinet, drawing cat after cat, slipping them through the cracks. Unsure if they will sink even one claw into the beast outside.
But still: she turns another page and goes on.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Our Missing Hearts LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cats Symbol Timeline in Our Missing Hearts
The timeline below shows where the symbol Cats appears in Our Missing Hearts. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 1
...The letter Bird has just received contains a sheet of paper covered in drawings of cats.
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...drawing closely, searching for a secret message. He finds a small rectangle hidden among the cats and realizes it is a miniature cabinet. The image calls him back to the stories...
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Part 1, Chapter 2
...family to prove their loyalty to the community. He searches for Margaret’s story about the cats, then searches for “Margaret Miu” and “our missing hearts.” The screen freezes on his last...
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Part 1, Chapter 3
...Bird spying. He tells her he is looking for a story about a boy and cats, certain he is about to be punished. But the librarian thinks hard and leads him...
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...once delivered. Now, the room is used for storage. She flips through an old card catalog and finds the book Bird is looking for—The Boy Who Drew Cats. Bird recognizes the...
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...librarian curses PACT, shocking Bird. She tells him he might be able to find the cat book in a university library. She wishes him good luck, calling him Bird, but he...
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Part 1, Chapter 4
...that he will ask Ethan to check the university library for the book about the cats. Despite attempts to purge all Asian texts from circulation, the university manages to keep several...
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Bird uses a search terminal to find the location of The Boy Who Drew Cats. He also searches for Our Missing Hearts, only to...
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Taking a chance, Bird asks Ethan if Margaret liked cats. After a moment, his father says that she did, because of her surname—Miu—which sounded like...
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Part 1, Chapter 5
...story Margaret used to tell Bird is about a poor boy who loves to draw cats. Though the villagers think his drawings are a waste of time, the boy’s parents encourage...
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...notices how bare the walls are. He pulls out his brushes and paints a small cat. Then he decides that cat seems lonely, and so he paints more and more cats...
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Part 1, Chapter 6
...the present, Bird lies awake and considers what the story of the boy who drew cats might mean. He peers outside at the place where the spraypainted heart used to be,...
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Part 2, Chapter 3
...own lives without her. One day, she sends a postcard with a drawing of a cat beside a little door to her old address. She sends more, increasing the number of...
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Part 3, Chapter 4
...Bird was trying to take from the library: the story of the boy who drew cats is different from how Margaret used to tell it. He cannot decipher its message. That...
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