Sociopathy In On Cats By Edgar American
Many have heard of the morbid and twisted tales of Edgar Allan Poe. However, none have heard of the visual and lucid stories of the greatest French story writer, Guy de Maupassant. Born in August 5, 1850, Henry-Rene-Albert Guy de Maupassant, or Guy de Maupassant, was a child born into an unsuccessful marriage that ended when Maupassant was 11 years old. He eventually joined in the Franco-German War which, by result, led to providing him with inspiration for some of his stories later on in his profession. After said war, he was taken under the tutelage of novelist, Gustave Flaubert. After his death, he was remembered mainly for his short stories than anything else.
One of Maupassant's works, "On Cats", was a short story published in 1886. This story tells the tale of a man, whom is both fond and disgusted by cats, going down a trip on memory lane to recall a certain instance of a strange encounter with a cat. Along with that memory, a dream, a dream in which the man encounters a woman whom he does not understand, …show more content…
nor she him, but appear to enjoy the other's company. This story may be bizzare, but it does not fit the Dark American Romanticism genre. This short story lacks key components such as setting, motifs, and literary gothic elements. To an extent it is dark, but many of these aspects are overshadowed by the far more peculiar qualities of the man.
"On Cats" is most definitely a complex story to dissect if not carefully approached. In order to understand the main focus of the story, one must understand Maupassant's history, have a comprehension of psychology, and an open mind. Now, psychopathy is a difficult subject to grasp, and so is history, but one must be aware of such things in hopes of understanding what the main character and Maupassant have to offer. In addition, having an open mind might help divulge some of this simplified information. After all, this short story, "On Cats", the main character, the man, is greedy, pretensive, and sociopathic.
None can deny humanity's greatest strength and weakness; their desire. The man, or narrator, of the story has an experience and yearning for female company in his second dream. He even "took her by the hand and led her to the couch, where I placed myself at her side" (Maupassant, Page 191), this clearly shows a distinct desire towards the symbol that he detests. He did, after all, compare a woman with a cat. "He realizes well that he holds a perfidious, tricky cat, with claws and fangs, an enemy in love,"(Maupassant, Page 189), this foreshadowing statement by the narrator reveals his own fancy towards the woman near the end of the story, does it not? Of course it does, this only proves his own humanity, cravings, and hypocrisy.
Speaking of which, such hypocrisies seem to be in display in the characteristics of the main character's pretenses. One such pretense would derive from the narrator's first encounter with a cat as a child. He, as he has stated, "watched it die with a trembling and cruel joy" (Maupassant, Page 189). And at the beginning of the story, he was caressing a cat rather mindfully and gently. Sure, he did have the plan to violently throw her off him, but how is it that he could be so cruel and indifferent as a child? Perhaps, nothing can be as cruel, as ambitious, and as pure as a child would be.
On that note, it seems that this man, the narrator, did not fully develop properly as a child.
Sociopathy is actually not a direct link to psychopathy since, in this scenerio, the rule of nature versus nurture applies. To understand this difference, one must see psychopathy being a born issue (or nature) and sociopathy being an environmental or situational issue (or nurture). One way to see this in the story was through a flashback of the narrator's childhood encounter with a dying cat. In said encounter, he seemed to hold life in little regard; a common trait in sociopaths. Another sociopathic characteristic shown was near the end. "In our stupid and prudish northern countries, with their hateful mawkishness of ideas, and silly notions of morality, a man would never receive a stranger in this fashion"(Maupassant, Page 191), this kind of mentality originates from APD (Anti-personality Disorder), a sociopathic diagnosis, and common trait in
sociopathy.
Now that all has been cleared, and every aspect of human desire has been analyzed, it is very certain that the narrator is indeed a victim of psychopathy. Throughout the story, it is witnessed multiple times that the narrator indulges himself with ironic necessities. From beginning to end, the narrator believes himself to be in a type of hostility with cats. However, he then proceeds to compare cats to women and therefore label women as some sort of enemy. His own hypocrisy leads the narrator to fall for a woman in a dream and fall victim to his own desires. This short story, done by Maupassant, can help distinguish the desires, hypocrisy, and mentality of humanity as well as contrast such differences. It is only up to the reader to find out the enigma that is the human mind.
One of Maupassant's works, "On Cats", was a short story published in 1886. This story tells the tale of a man, whom is both fond and disgusted by cats, going down a trip on memory lane to recall a certain instance of a strange encounter with a cat. Along with that memory, a dream, a dream in which the man encounters a woman whom he does not understand, …show more content…
nor she him, but appear to enjoy the other's company. This story may be bizzare, but it does not fit the Dark American Romanticism genre. This short story lacks key components such as setting, motifs, and literary gothic elements. To an extent it is dark, but many of these aspects are overshadowed by the far more peculiar qualities of the man.
"On Cats" is most definitely a complex story to dissect if not carefully approached. In order to understand the main focus of the story, one must understand Maupassant's history, have a comprehension of psychology, and an open mind. Now, psychopathy is a difficult subject to grasp, and so is history, but one must be aware of such things in hopes of understanding what the main character and Maupassant have to offer. In addition, having an open mind might help divulge some of this simplified information. After all, this short story, "On Cats", the main character, the man, is greedy, pretensive, and sociopathic.
None can deny humanity's greatest strength and weakness; their desire. The man, or narrator, of the story has an experience and yearning for female company in his second dream. He even "took her by the hand and led her to the couch, where I placed myself at her side" (Maupassant, Page 191), this clearly shows a distinct desire towards the symbol that he detests. He did, after all, compare a woman with a cat. "He realizes well that he holds a perfidious, tricky cat, with claws and fangs, an enemy in love,"(Maupassant, Page 189), this foreshadowing statement by the narrator reveals his own fancy towards the woman near the end of the story, does it not? Of course it does, this only proves his own humanity, cravings, and hypocrisy.
Speaking of which, such hypocrisies seem to be in display in the characteristics of the main character's pretenses. One such pretense would derive from the narrator's first encounter with a cat as a child. He, as he has stated, "watched it die with a trembling and cruel joy" (Maupassant, Page 189). And at the beginning of the story, he was caressing a cat rather mindfully and gently. Sure, he did have the plan to violently throw her off him, but how is it that he could be so cruel and indifferent as a child? Perhaps, nothing can be as cruel, as ambitious, and as pure as a child would be.
On that note, it seems that this man, the narrator, did not fully develop properly as a child.
Sociopathy is actually not a direct link to psychopathy since, in this scenerio, the rule of nature versus nurture applies. To understand this difference, one must see psychopathy being a born issue (or nature) and sociopathy being an environmental or situational issue (or nurture). One way to see this in the story was through a flashback of the narrator's childhood encounter with a dying cat. In said encounter, he seemed to hold life in little regard; a common trait in sociopaths. Another sociopathic characteristic shown was near the end. "In our stupid and prudish northern countries, with their hateful mawkishness of ideas, and silly notions of morality, a man would never receive a stranger in this fashion"(Maupassant, Page 191), this kind of mentality originates from APD (Anti-personality Disorder), a sociopathic diagnosis, and common trait in
sociopathy.
Now that all has been cleared, and every aspect of human desire has been analyzed, it is very certain that the narrator is indeed a victim of psychopathy. Throughout the story, it is witnessed multiple times that the narrator indulges himself with ironic necessities. From beginning to end, the narrator believes himself to be in a type of hostility with cats. However, he then proceeds to compare cats to women and therefore label women as some sort of enemy. His own hypocrisy leads the narrator to fall for a woman in a dream and fall victim to his own desires. This short story, done by Maupassant, can help distinguish the desires, hypocrisy, and mentality of humanity as well as contrast such differences. It is only up to the reader to find out the enigma that is the human mind.