THE CAT OF THE CANE-BRAKE
Starting Point. Frederick Stuart Greene wrote this story out of his experiences and observations as an engineer in certain Southern districts. The pine woods, the wretched cabin, the cane-brake, the rattlesnake, the brogan shoes—these are concrete instances of his familiarity with the setting. The immediate germinal idea lies in an incident he recalled of seeing a severed rattlesnake head fastened to the leg of a man in camp.
Plot. The compactly wrought plot is one of the best in recent fiction. It is formed, in the main, from the interweaving of two lines of interest. One has to do with the struggle between the yellow cat and the woman, Sally; the other spins out the sordid love affair between Sally and the young engineer. The climax of action shows a double defeat for the woman. The husband is the connecting link, as he is the third figure in the triangle story, and is the partisan of the cat in the other line of interest.
Initial Impulse: Sally throws the stick of wood at the cat. Outward indication of latent animosity.
Steps in the Action: Sally promises her lover to meet him at midnight. She prepares the liquor-trap. She hears of the big snake. She insists that the cat be killed. Jim refuses. He orders her to lay the mattress in the “dog-trot.” She sets the liquor-trap. Jim, caught, drinks a toast to the cat. Sally lies waiting for midnight.
Dramatic Climax: The cat finds the snake-head. It passes the bed. Sally mutters and strikes out in her sleep. The cat drops the snake-head.
Steps toward the Climax of Action: Few, but significant. Sally wakes, raises herself on her right palm; her wrist meets the fangs of the rattler; in agony she tries to wake Jim for help, but he lies in a drunken stupor. Meantime, the young engineer who has waited long, now sets out to reconnoitre. He makes his way toward the cabin.
Dénouement: In it is bound up the climax of action which has, in part, already occurred in Sally’s death. The engineer sees the dead woman, the drunken man, and the purring cat. He flees.
Apart from the clever workmanship of the plot construction, what examples of poetic justice do you find?
Was it fate, chance, or tactics of hate which caused the cat to drop the snake-head?
Characterization. In a story of plot prominence, the characters need less individualization. Are these, in your opinion, types or individuals? Which is the best drawn? Which the least convincing? How does Sally, early in the action, forfeit your sympathy?
Details. How is Jim’s love for liquor (a hinge on which the plot is made to turn) prepared for early in the action?
How does the manner of the cat’s disposition of the fish-head make logical its subsequent interest in the snake-head?
What intensifying value has the “sad, gray moss”?
What effect has Sally’s second encounter with the cat?
Study the naturalness, the dramatic development, and the enriching quality of the scene wherein the rattlesnake is discussed. How does it make plausible, also, the fact that the cat found the snake-head?
What contribution is made to the final effect in Jim’s toast to the cat?
What do you think of the final sentence by way of conclusion?
What is the length of the action?
This story, the first Mr. Greene wrote, after taking up the study of story technique, is particularly excellent for showing early recognition of plot demands. If its structure is, on investigation, a trifle obvious, it will be all the better for the student’s purpose. On comparing it with later stories by the same author, he will find that growth which means ability to conceal mechanism—or to forget it altogether.
The student needing exercise in plot construction should read Captain Greene’s “Molly McGuire, Fourteen” (Century, September, 1917; also reprinted in “A Book of Short Stories,” edited by Blanche Colton Williams), and should study his diagram of the lines of interest and their complications (See “A Handbook on Story Writing,” by Blanche Colton Williams, page 94).