Cats Symbol Analysis

The three kittens and cats that the narrator owns over the course of the novel represent the narrator’s loss of innocence and his gradual acquisition of knowledge. The narrator’s first kitten, Fluffy, represents innocence—and when she dies at only a few months old when the opal miner’s taxi runs her over, she becomes a representation of the narrator’s sudden loss of innocence. He must, for the first time, face death. The cat that the opal miner procures to replace Fluffy, a mean and wild tomcat named Monster, represents maturity that’s far beyond what the narrator can comprehend or reach at that time. The adult world, like Monster, is unreachable and dangerous, and it isn’t at all affectionate or comforting. The narrator’s final kitten, whom he eventually names Ocean, indicates that he’s finally come of age. He recognizes, with Lettie’s help, that he can’t force the kitten to stay with him—rather, he must wait for the kitten to come to him when she’s ready. And indeed, she does, about a month after the narrator’s adventures with Lettie. Ocean represents a far more gradual, comfortable slide into maturity, while her name (which is, unbeknownst to the narrator, a reference to Lettie’s supernatural “ocean”) suggests that the narrator has come to some understanding of how the world works, including its most mysterious elements.