Some of you are taken aback that I made this equation knowing full well that cats are carnivores. Well, it gets even worse. I have actually seen cats playing the cat and mouse game. Well the cat is playing. It captures the mouse, holds it for awhile then lets it go briefly, so the cat gets to pursue again. Each time the mouse gets clawed anew and is weaker.
Still I want to prove my original point about cats equating to love so let’s look at the origins of a cat using its claws. As recently born kittens, they find food through their mother’s teat. But the flow is difficult to get. Then the cat tries kneading its mothers breast. They are fed to their satisfaction so all cats knead as a way to show love.
Have you ever seen a cat settle down in a spot? Especially if that spot is soft, the cat will circle around and then it purrs while its claws knead the spot. Every single cat I have ever seen settling down has done this. They love their spot to sleep, especially if it is soft.
Have you ever played with a cat? You throw the approved toy (cats always need to approve of it) and the cat lunges after it, clawing as it captures it. After you wrestle the toy away from the cat to continue the game, you then throw it and the pounce happens again. Cats love to play like this, They will do it for maybe ten minutes before becoming disinterested. When cats and dogs first diverged, dogs got the endurance and cats got the speed. So ten minutes is a valiant effort on the cat’s side.
So when that cat first jumps on that mouse, does it not use its claws as if kneading? Sure, it’s harmful to the mouse, but aren’t cats just saying “I love you” ? So the cat let’s the mouse go because she loves it so much and then realizes she can show her love by pouncing again. The loving continues until the mouse is dead.
Didn’t you feel for the character of Lennie in ‘Of Mice and Men’? Even if Lennie did stroke too hard and hurt or killed, he didn’t realize it until afterwards. That’s exactly what cats are like. They accidentally kill those smaller than themselves. Which is why I will never own a cat bigger than a housecat.
So the title “Of Mice and Men” means Lennie is the man and the weaker ones (everyone else) are all mice, scurrying around, trying not to be harmed by him. Don’t believe that the title refers to a line from the poem ‘To a Mouse’ that means, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” There, Lennie is said to be the mouse since he has a mental affliction and he can’t think on the past and future but only the moment. And, as the poem shows, the men (everyone else), however, are cursed to thinking too much about the past and future.
