The Catbird Seat

Mr. Martin and Mrs. Barrows are foils for one another. Choose four areas in which these characters contrast and discuss the significance of each contrast, using specific examples from the text.

Milk symbolizes Mr. Martin’s monotony and outward innocuousness. Identify three other symbols relating to Mr. Martin and explain what they represent.

What does Thurber’s exploitation of gender stereotypes say about the text as a whole?

Does the author treat Mr. Martin’s abstinence from cigarettes and alcohol as a positive or a negative?

There are different conflicts in the story, for example: a man versus a woman, an employee versus an employee, stasis versus change. Identify a conflict and trace its development through the story.

Some critics maintain that the story depicts an inverted stereotype, i.e., a strong/dominant woman pitted against a weak/submissive man. Do you agree? Use a minimum of three examples from the text to develop an answer.

Pick two characters in “The Catbird Seat” and compare the ways they do or do not use their imaginations.

“The Catbird Seat” is a farce in terms of Mr. Martin’s absurdly disproportionate response to Mrs. Barrows’s offenses. Identify and explain two other ways in which the story is farcical.