RARA-AVIS: Re: Cats

Debbie Chilson (dlchilson@hotmail.com)
Mon, 09 Nov 1998 17:47:36 EST Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 13:01:45 -0500, Ted White said:

<snip>It's interesting that "feline" is usually used to describe a
*female* character, while canine imagery is more often applied to men
(ignoring "bitch" which has lost its original she-dog meaning by now).
</snip>

Quite true, Ted. We humans tend to see feline as "female" (maybe
because of the 'fe' prefix). Hence the term, cat fight used for any
argument, violence included or not, between two women. Which is in
itself interesting to me, as having raised many cats (I grew up on a
farm), it was the male cat which was more agressive... the tom cat being
the one to defend its territory from other invading toms *and* in the
eating of its own offspring... which is something I have never
understood. The female is only agressive (unless she is Siamese, of
course) when there is a threat to her young. Why, then, do we
stereotype in this fashion-- feline=female?

Getting back to the discussion of literature, I said once that I am new
to this genre of writing and I am. The one thing I have notice which
seems to hold the *few* (I stress few, although I hope to read more as
time goes on) books I have read in common is the description of people
in terms of animals. Cora and Frank are one example, yes. Another
would be Carmen Sternwood from Chandler's "The Big Sleep." She is
described as having sharp, pointing teeth-- not unlike those of a cat, I
suppose, as well as having other animalistic qualities. Carmen, those
who've read the book would know, had a history of mental illness. I'm
wondering if there isn't something about these noir types of books which
plays upon the animal imagery. Perhaps they fit together because
animals are still a mystery to us in some ways, as are the depths of the
human psyche?

Debbie Chilson
dlchilson@hotmail.com

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.