Since my first “Character Cats!” post was published last Friday, several more cats have appeared, perhaps being curious about this project.
Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights by Ellis Bell (Emily Brontë); appearing here as a Character Cat
All the cats I’ve known have had different personalities.
In general, I’ve learned they resist human habits and can see in the dark, so if you want to sleep at night you have to be gently persistent. But there’s hope for the two (or more) of you because cats can balance relationship with independence as easily as walking on a rooftop. Just watch how they do it.
What I’d like to learn the most is how they can completely relax at home, no matter how busy the day.
I’d like you to meet a real-life cat with character. The other day I was talking with my friend Stephanie who has told me,
My cat's name is Turtle. She is a big bowling ball shaped senior tortoise shell. She is polydactyl and her front paws are huge.
Her main character traits are loyal, sleepy, chill, and hungry.
She loves to be near me.
She's a good stretcher.
I can be moving large objects around her (ladders and equipment) and she just hangs out and looks up at me. No big deal. Super chill.
She has the funniest things "to say" when she thinks it's time to eat. She sounds a little like a broken frog crying.
We have a long talk about once a week how she's the perfect cat.
[Editor’s note: Polydactyl means that Turtle has more than the usual number of toes. Common among cats, the extra toes are usually on their front paws.]
“Let’s have a long talk, dear Turtle!”.
A few years ago I imagined cats as literary characters with something to say, either with their authors’ words, or with their own. Please meet six of them.
Scarlett O’Hara in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind: “I won’t need you to rescue me. I can take care of myself, thank you.”
The Prioress in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: “O, blissful Queen, my learning is too weak — To be declaring thy great worthiness.”
Tom Sawyer in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: “He was not the Model Boy of the Village. He knew the model boy very well though — and loathed him.”
Jo March in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women: “WEEKLY REPORTS — Meg, Good — Jo, Bad — Beth, Very good — Amy, Middling”
Isadora Wing in Fear of Flying by Erica Jong: “… when I was sixteen and cried into the sonnets of Edna St. Vincent Millay …”
Mamma in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time: “My sole consolation when I went upstairs for the night was that Mamma would come in and kiss me after I was in bed.”
Adopting cats with character, like Turtle, are but one of the many ways we bring companions and kindred spirits into our lives. You might know of such a story. Please Comment!
I just gave your Opera Cat cards to a friend who is turning 80. She is a REAL LIVE opera singer from New York and loved the cards. I would like to add another friend to your blog list.
How is it, dear Deda, that you are not famous for your many many talents!
I just gave your Opera Cat cards to a friend who is turning 80. She is a REAL LIVE opera singer from New York and loved the cards. I would like to add another friend to your blog list.