Cat Person

The story features female proximity to violence. As a woman in the world, and specifically, as a woman around men, Margot is frequently under the threat of violence, both explicitly and implicitly. Much of the story centers around Margot’s thoughts, so there is fantastical uncertainty to this violence. The violence never actually occurs, or rather only occurs in Margot’s imagination, as when Margot enters Robert’s house:

[S]he had the brief wild idea that maybe this was not a room at all but a trap meant to lure her into the false belief that Robert was a normal person, a person like her, when in fact all the other rooms in the house were empty, of full of horrors: corpses or kidnap victims or chains (Paragraph 68).

While this might appear exaggerated or hyperbolic, it is not the first time that Margot realizes she really does not know anything about Robert. Even Robert’s alleged cats, through which Margot develops a relationship and rapport with Robert, are nowhere to be seen, indicating she perhaps does not know him as well as she thinks.

The narrative’s vagueness aims to leave the reader as unsure as Margot is herself. Perhaps it is not the presence of Robert as a strange man that is threatening; rather, it is the fact that Margot is alone with Robert that represents the possibility for violence. The story suggests that women are safer in public and instead suffer greater threats, including domestic abuse, once they enter the private sphere with men. Although the narrative doesn’t depict physical abuse, it suggests that Robert’s statements are verbally abusive, especially his last series of texts. Perhaps Roupenian suggests abuse to call into question what society considers violence: Even though little physical violence occurs within the story, a great deal of rage seems buried in Robert’s language and actions. At any point, this latent danger threatens to break through the surface.

The bestial characterization of Robert conveys his capacity for violence. In her interview with Deborah Treisman, Roupenian states:

In the bar, Margot thinks of Robert as ‘a large, skittish animal, like a horse or a bear,’ that she is taming, coaxing to eat from her hand. But what would happen if she stopped trying to coax and pet and charm him—if she said, bluntly, that she doesn’t want him, that she’s not attracted to him, that she’s changed her mind? (Treisman, Deborah. “Kristen Roupenian on the Self-Deceptions of Dating.” New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2017).

Again, this characterization indicates the relative precarity that Margot faces as she is alone with this strange man. Margot subconsciously realizes that Robert is dangerous, even though she convinces herself he is not.