Summary
"Catnip" is a story about a young boy named Ronnie, who is about fourteen years old. He is a well-known boy throughout his school and is running for class president. There is another boy named Marvin who gets bullied by Ronnie for being small and thin. Every morning after bullying Marvin, Ronnie finishes his walk to school with a friend of his who gets all the girls to vote for Ronnie; on the walk, he passes Mrs. Mingle's house. Mrs. Mingle is a tiny old cat owner who tends to act a little creepy. Ronnie shows off in front of a girl and throws a rock into her yard, injuring the cat. Ronnie throws his cigarette but on the ground, his friends insists he not do that because it could start a fire, but he refuses to stop. On the way back home from school, Ronnie is bragging about hitting the cat earlier on that day. The cat is outside playing with a ball of catnip when the pass the house. Ronnie strolls right on up to the cat and takes the ball away from the poor old cat. Mrs. Mingle sneaks up behind Ronnie and yells at him to drop the catnip ball. In an attempt to impress his friends for the election, Ronnie refuses and this makes Mrs. Mingle even more upset. "You insolent puppy. I've a good mind to cut out your lying tongue" (129) Mrs. Mingle exclaims to Ronnie. She headed towards him and he ran away. Ronnie was convinced that it was just to save her; that he ran away so he would not hurt her. He was too full of himself and too busy trying to impress people to win an election that he cannot even admit that he was scared. He went to find his friends and tell them the reason he left. However, he had to pass Mrs. Mingle's house to get there. He threw his cigarette but over the fence into her yard. He soon realizes that a fire has started in Mrs. Mingles yard, cause by the cigarette. Ronnie panics and runs home only to quickly fall asleep. The next morning, Ronnie wakes up and his mother tells him Mrs. Mingle died in the house fire. He does not mention that he started the fire, or anything for that matter, he just goes to school. The cat is waiting for his outside the fence. It follows Ronnie everywhere. He cannot go to school, especially because today is election day. Ronnie goes home and the cat is locked outside the house. Ronnie is laying in bed and all of a sudden the scratching starts again. He cannot locate where the cat is, but he can hear it scratching. Then, the cat jumps on Ronnie and cuts out his tongue with it's claws; and then the cat disappears.
How is this Horror Fiction?This story is obviously horror fiction. The author includes several different thriller elements to help make the story. First of all, the scratching is heard to represent the guilt shown by Ronnie. The starching is heard at night after the fire is started when Ronnie is panicking. It is also heard before the cat scratched out Ronnie's tongue. The author sets a creepy tone throughout the story. The house with the widow and her cat are also found in a couple different horror themed stories. The fact that the cat did not die in the house fire wither means it escaped or it is haunted and out for revenge, which is also a common theme throughout horror stories.
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How this Relates to "The Cask of Amontillado"These two stories have a couple different connections. One difference is that in "The Cask of Amontillado," the main character is reflecting on the past while in "Catnip" the conflict is occurring to the character in present tense. In both stories, the characters did something wrong, and both killed someone. While Ronnie didn't mean to, he threw the cigarette over the fence, which cause the fire and killed Mrs. Mingle. Fortunato was just crazy and killed for revenge. In a way, it was revenge for both characters. Fortunato killed to get revenge because of bullying, and Ronnie threw the cigarette in the yard because Mrs. Mingle claimed she would tear his tongue out.
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Literary Terms
Third Person Limited- "Catnip" is third person limited because there is a narrator but you can only tell what Ronnie is thinking. I think that this helps because he does not know what is going on around him so the author can explain that to you in third person.
Irony- The irony in this story occurs after the cat claws out Ronnie's tongue. The story ends with "Ronnie- what's the matter? Has the cat got your tongue-?" (135). This is considered irony because the cat actually did get Ronnie's tongue but what Ronnie's mother said was just a metaphorical phrase, she had no clue that this actually happened.
Antagonist- In this story the antagonist would be the cat. The cat would be the antagonist because he is the one against Ronnie. He is out to get Ronnie because Ronnie caused the death of Mrs. Mingle.
Protagonist- The protagonist would be Ronnie because even though his actions were wrong, he is the main character who is experiencing the problem of not being able to get rid of the cat.
Dynamic Character- Ronnie is a dynamic character in the story because before the cat, he was portrayed as this tough guy who everyone admired. After the cat started stalking him, he began to panic and lost his tough guy image.
Irony- The irony in this story occurs after the cat claws out Ronnie's tongue. The story ends with "Ronnie- what's the matter? Has the cat got your tongue-?" (135). This is considered irony because the cat actually did get Ronnie's tongue but what Ronnie's mother said was just a metaphorical phrase, she had no clue that this actually happened.
Antagonist- In this story the antagonist would be the cat. The cat would be the antagonist because he is the one against Ronnie. He is out to get Ronnie because Ronnie caused the death of Mrs. Mingle.
Protagonist- The protagonist would be Ronnie because even though his actions were wrong, he is the main character who is experiencing the problem of not being able to get rid of the cat.
Dynamic Character- Ronnie is a dynamic character in the story because before the cat, he was portrayed as this tough guy who everyone admired. After the cat started stalking him, he began to panic and lost his tough guy image.