Significance of Cat Imagery in Advice to Women
In a patriarchal society, women have been forced to occupy a secondary position in relation to men in spite of the fact that they constitute at least one half of human race. Taking the examples of her Goan-Catholic community in which she brought up, Eunice de Souza shows her resentment towards patriarchal system through her poetry. Her poetry focuses on the expression of women’s revolt against this oppression in such patriarchal society. Poetry for her is the means to come out of this space of patriarchy and to subvert the ‘discourse of silence’. She uses gender-switching to express masculine oppression met out to women in relationships. She selects elements like irony, symbols, satire, imagery etc. in her poetry in a very effective way which helps her to fulfill her aim. Using these linguistic features she wants to write in her own voice and makes poetry a medium of communication to the world.
In some of her poems Eunice De Souza advices women about their roles in the society, and in some other, she criticizes the follies in women for which they have remained subordinate to and dependent on men. In the poem, Advice to Women, she tries to make the women aware of their pains and the reasons behind those pains.
Also Read:
- Advice to Women as a Feminist Poem
- Summary of Advice to Women by Eunice de Souza
- Critical Analysis of Advice to Women by Eunice de Souza
The poem is very short, comprising of only twelve lines of irregular length and without any regular rhyme scheme. The poem begins as medias res. It seems as if the poet has been discussing about the subject of the poem-the crisis of women to cope with the situation when they are jilted in love- for sometime, and now she is advising them to find out a solution of it. The very first line appears in an imperative mode-Keep cats.
“Keep cats
if you want to learn to cope with
the otherness of lovers.”
The readers at once get surprised at the suggestion. It is clear that the subject of the poem is the otherness of the lovers towards their beloved ladies. It is expected from a feminist poet to speak about the depraved condition of women in both domestic and social fields. Women are jilted in love; they are suppressed, robbed of their right to speak and to act according to their wish. It has been an elemental duty of a feminist author to speak for the equal right of women and protest against all injustices against women. But Eunice de Souza, in this poem does not tell women to protest against these injustices. She advises to rear cats as pets. This surprising suggestion immediately draws interest of the readers to the subject of the poem.
“he poetess further explains that –
Otherness is not always neglect –”
That means, she does not include the act of neglecting in the behavioral otherness as only criteria, so the lover can behave otherly even without neglecting his beloved lady. Then, the poet again mentions the case of cats-
“Cats return to their litter trays
when they need to.”
Now this ‘litter-trays’ are a kind of trays containing some absorbent granules to absorb the excretes of cats when they are indoors.
The indispensable questions that arise in the mind of the reader after reading the first six lines of the poem are -What is the relation between a cat and the deplorable situation of a woman? How can the practice of rearing cats enable women to cope with the otherness of their lovers?
To find answers to these questions, first, we have to find answers to another set of questions – Why does the poet suggest to keep cats instead of dogs? What is special about keeping cats or how do cats behave as pets? Cats behave very uniquely as pets. There is a strange type of majesty and haughtiness in their movement and they never become obedient completely to their keepers. They are slaves of their own whim. To train those cats the keeper has to possess enormous depth of patience and perseverance. To speak more elaborately, cats are not as faithful as dogs. Cats demands pampering, they enjoy the coziness of the household and the lap of their keeper, but they never endure complete obedience to their keeper. So cats, in this poem, are a symbol of a kind of unique psychology. Cats do show otherness in their behaviour time and again.
So if women practice rearing of cats in their houses, they would definitely grow the habit of keeping patience and perseverance. They will have the habit of facing behavioural otherness of dear ones as cats will become dear to them. as pets. They will have to consider that cats will not always behave according to their wishes. Gradually, a habit of mutual sustenance of parallel existence will evolve. According to Eunice de Souza, this psychological transformation is the primary requirement for a woman to answer back the otherness of her lover. With this resolution of being indifferent to the indifference of lovers, the poet asserts that – Otherness is not always neglect (1.4)- as the woman has already seen that her pet cats return ‘to their litter trays/ when they need to (II. 5-6). If we dive deep into the metaphor of returning to litter-trays, we find that the men are compared to the pet cats in this stanza and the women are compared to fond but resolute keepers of those cats. As cats cannot stay away from the litter-trays at their most urgent need, men are also compelled to return to their ladies to refresh themselves in body and mind. A woman should have confidence in herself about this moment and, perhaps, Eunice de Souza suggests women to utilize that urgent moment to answer those men back, in their own manner. That will teach those men a proper lesson.
When we realize the metaphor of cats in this poem, we find it more interesting, when the poetess asks women -Don’t cuss out of the window/ at their enemies (II. 7-8). The poetess becomes serious from her sarcastic tone of the first stanza (II. 1-6). She analyzes the problem more psychologically in the last six lines. Behind the metaphor of cats, she continues her discussion about how to deal with the fickle attitude of men. She advises women not to be hostile to external provocations to those men (their enemies). Metaphorically, the enemies are the stray cats which envy the domestic coziness and comfort of the pet cats, and they try to provoke those pets to leave behind the security and comfort of household and become wild like them. The keepers cannot resist their pet cats unless they themselves want to stay back. It is bacause the cats are slaves of their own whims. The poetess, tries to make women clear about the fact that they should not get aggrieved at the otherness of their lovers and blame the vices and provocations from outdoors. Instead, they should once again put in use their experience with their pet cats. They should see into ‘those great eyes’ of those pet cats. Cats have “stare of perpetual surprise/ in those great green eyes. (II. 9-10). The phrase, ‘stare of perpetual surprise’ can be interpreted in more than one ways (1) It can be associated with men; (ii) It can be associated with women. (ii) It can be associated with the conjugal love that is at stake at that moment.
(i) In this case, we can take the meaning as camouflage of heart. Men with deceiving heart can wear an inner look and show surprise at the blames raised against them. We know cats are deceiving in nature. Their wide open eyes never reveal their heart, and they can even steal food in their master’s house. It is their instinct. Eunice de Douza, indirectly places men beside those deceiving cats and makes women aware of this nature of men and asks them to be patient and firm, and not to be carried away by any emotional corrosion.
(ii) In this case, the meaning the phrase takes an innocent nature. Though instinctive, but cats do demand greater pamper from their mistress and their eyes, sometimes make that demand without making any disguise, But still they seek a corner of the house when they are ignored. They do not leave hope, and walks on the lonely balcony, with a hope to be called by their mistress. Their green eyes, a stare of perpetual surprise, always look up at the face of the mistress. This lonely but never-give up attitude of the cats teaches women a lesson.
(ii) In this case, the phrase denotes perhaps the gravest truth. The memories and promises shared and exchanged between two persons wears that ‘stare of perpetual surprise’. Women bears the lion’s share of the weight of this surprise as they try to stick to the root of their relationship and try to survive it, in the face of some false promises of future.
The poetess ends this poem with, an omniscient message-
“That stare of perpetual surprise
in those great green eyes
will teach 1 you
to die alone.” (II. 9-12)
Whatever, the meaning of ‘that stare of perpetual surprise’ may be, but the realization it will arouse in a woman, is to accept a life where she is alone among many, she is lonely even in presence of her lover, as he wears a false ‘stare of perpetual surprise’ infront of her hopeful ‘stare of perpetual surprise’, making their relationship, with a ‘stare of perpetual surprise’, an orphan.
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