Chapter 10

Summary
Moira Caulfield

This chapter is a collection of short stories.  Chapter ten opens with the topic of cats.  Perry’s neighbor is wondering if Perry has ever killed a cat and whether or not Perry would be willing to kill his dying cat.  Ultimately, the neighbor ends up killing his cat himself.  There are two stories present that address small stores in town.  The two stores being, the ‘farmer’s store company’ and ‘Snook’s Store’ but ‘Snook’s Store was given more emphasis.  The chapter wraps up with a sour tale.  A farmer kills himself after having a CAT scan show that his livers were full of tumors and ultimately he was headed towards death.  The farmer didn’t feel he was strong enough for that so he simply took his life.  The farmer’s wife found him and was the one who called in to report his death.  The chapter is written in a very casual manner jumping from story to story with virtually no meaning or pattern.

Discussion Leader
Stephen Fong

Q: Consider the title of this chapter “Cat”, do you believe that it successfully unifies the chapter’s material?

We found that the title of the chapter did not particularly mesh the ideas Perry was attempting to piece together very well. As a group, we did not understand how the stories tied together in a cohesive story line, although we are no expecting that to be the case regardless of the chapter title. They do not however –we wish they would – structure the chapters in more of a journal type structure. This could piece his ideas chronological, while maintaining the short – and important – parts of his world, this would also allow for greater freedom for the reader to discover his world in a sense of time and place rather than segmenting his life by category.  

Q: Death reoccurs at the beginning and the end of this chapter what do you believe is the significance of this technique?

Death is an intricate part of his job, and has been one of the overlapping themes throughout the entire book. In this chapter, the first death was of a cat – fittingly, also the titled of the chapter name – and at the end of the chapter, a man takes his own life in the silos. As a group, we believe that it is one hand, a well-used literary technique and on the other hand as a group we have decided that death being a reoccurring theme that this is not as significant.  

Q: History comes into play frequently within this section, do you think this helps or hurts his writing flow?

As a group we find that the use of the detailed history lessons sever as an interesting method to bring the reader into the story. Foremost, the reader is captivated by the history and, seems to make the reader an actual member of the town. However, we also believe that the history portion of the text, do not make very much sense and push the reader away, depending on the language, tone, relativity to the short story and the descriptiveness. This technique most definitely interrupts the flow of the stories, but we are now used to his literary which reduces obtrusiveness of the history; which was off-putting in the beginning.

Q: In firefighting he communicates the idea that it is actually more destructive then helpful, do you believe this to be true or false? why?

We believe that this both true and false. It is true to the extent that for the older residents in town – who have established lives and have been rooted in the physical location for a while – may be losing part of their history. However, it is false for the younger generation who are not losing anything but rather changing and developing into a new future with new memories and traditions. It is important to note that with the destruction of these buildings, through practice fires, traditions are lost. Simply losing a building can destroy a tradition in the town, such as going to the store and window-shopping at Christmas time. 


Graphic Organizer
Mitchell Cooley

The chapter Cat is soft of confusing from the whole Population: 485 stand point, but one its own it has a nice tone about death. The author starts the chapter off with the death of a Cat, goes on to talk about the destruction of a store he remembers, and then ends with a farmer’s suicide after a CAT scan.  This kind of style made the chapter Cat feel like it had come full circle, and was a nice touch. Michael Perry discusses death both in the organic form- the cat and the farmer, and the physical- the store.  This chapter talks about the loss of death, but also how you keep it alive by remembering the memories. 

Vocabulary

Kenzie Hoefs

Commiserative: (verb) To feel or express sorrow or sympathy for; empathize with; pity.

Constable: (noun) An officer of high rank in medieval monarchies, usually the commander of all armed forces, especially in the absence of the ruler.

Ominous: (adj.) Portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious: an ominous bank of dark clouds.

Swale: (noun) A low place in a tract of land, usually moister and often having ranker vegetation than the adjacent higher land.

Bayoneted: (noun) A daggerlike steel weapon that is attached to or at the muzzle of a gun and used for stabbing or slashing in hand-to-hand combat.

Anthropomorphism: (noun) An anthropomorphic conception or representation, as of a deity.

Tamp: (verb) (in blasting) to fill (a drilled hole) with earth or the like after the charge has been inserted.

Preponderant: (adj.) Superior in weight, force, influence, numbers, etc.; prevailing: a preponderant misconception.

Nostalgia: (noun) A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

Addled: (verb) To make or become confused.

Litany: (noun) A ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession.

Fortitude: (noun) Mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously