Hate That Cat

Jack writes his poems in the present tense, making him a first-person subjective narrator. Thus, he has not had the opportunity to reflect on the experiences and feelings he describes, and this sometimes means that readers are more aware than he is of the potential meanings and significance of his experiences. This discrepancy creates dramatic irony and some tension, inspiring readers’ curiosity about the outcome of Jack’s development. In addition, the novel is epistolary; it is entirely composed of poems and messages from Jack to his teacher, Miss Stretchberry. As a result, Jack seems to directly address the reader, as Miss Stretchberry’s responses to Jack are never included in the novel but are implied by Jack’s responses. This has the effect of lessening the emotional distance between the reader and Jack, and the novel encourages the reader to interact with him.

Another consequence of the novel’s form is that Jack’s poems and messages sometimes overlap; the messages read like poems while the poems can feel very similar to the messages. The notes to his teacher are poetic—written in free verse, as are some of the poems—and they often use the figures of speech and poetic devices Jack is learning in class. This blurred line between Jack’s verse and his notes—between texts intended to be artistic and texts intended to communicate—illuminates one of the novel’s major themes: The Artistry of Communication.

One of the main themes of this section is The Emotional Power of Poetry as it shows how writing and reading poetry helps Jack process his grief and terrible sense of loss after the death of his beloved dog, Sky. His concern about whether the author of “kittens,” Valerie Worth, “is […] alive” conveys just how influential Sky’s death has been to Jack’s thinking. His first concern, upon realizing how much he likes Worth’s poem, is whether the poet is alive, which shows his preoccupation with death. It also shows his fear of attachment as he wants to first ensure Valerie Worth is alive before he grows too attached to her to through her work. He loved Sky deeply, which is why he is so hurt by the dog’s death, and now Jack wants to guard his heart to prevent it from more pain. The humor he finds in Worth’s poem reminds him of how much Sky “made [him] laugh” when “he would dance around / a skittering leaf,” scooting backwards away from it, yipping (29, 28). Though Jack’s memories of Sky are overlaid with sorrow, this poem helps him recall that his interactions with Sky were filled with laughter and fun. Once again reflecting his fear of new attachments, Jack says that he does not want a cat or a dog as a pet because it could be “squished / by a car / going fast,” get “sick / really really sick,” or “run away / or / get lost” (33). It is easier for him to say he hates cats to justify not getting a cat, just as Jack justifies not getting a dog because he “already had / a dog” (36). When Miss Stretchberry encourages Jack to write about Sky, as he did last year, Jack claims he cannot. However, he proceeds to do just this—writing poems about Sky helps him express and process his emotions.

Jack also uses writing to manage his uncomfortable feelings and big questions about life. For example, he writes about his Uncle Bill, a college professor who tells Jack that his writing isn’t poetry because it doesn’t follow the “rules” of poetry; Uncle Bill says it lacks rhyme, rhythm, and poetic devices. Uncle Bill’s pedantry makes Jack, who has been taught very differently by his teacher, feel angry and frustrated. Jack astutely realizes that one “need[s] to have / something to write about” rather than simply focusing on the creation of metaphors or alliteration, for example (13). Thus, Uncle Bill’s rigid opinions about poetry are called into question by Jack’s own experience and ideas.

Ironically, Uncle Bill’s rules for writing poetry paralyze Jack’s creativity, which shows The Link Between Creativity and Artistic Freedom. When Jack tries to work up some alliteration or onomatopoeia, for instance, he says that he “can’t do it. / Brain frozen” (13). When he attempts to write longer lines, as Uncle Bill suggests, Jack’s thoughts get “all mumble jumbled” and his verse gets bogged down with unnecessary commas and arbitrary line breaks (8). His wish that Miss Stretchberry could tell Uncle Bill about how her students have their “own rhythms / and [their] own IMAGES” shows how much Jack longs for agency and authentic opportunities to express himself (9). Because Miss Stretchberry teaches her students that this is what makes writing good, Jack feels she understands him, even when she pushes him out of his comfort zone; he is happy to be in her class for the second year in a row because of the respect she affords him.

Miss Stretchberry also gives her students a great deal of artistic freedom in her classes, which spurs Jack to embrace creativity. His professed aversion to using poetic devices such as metaphors and alliteration (because Uncle Bill insists upon them) is subverted by his inclusion of figures of speech in his messages to Miss Stretchberry. Because of the way she teaches her students to read and write poetry, Jack uses poetic language without even realizing it, showing just how successful her lessons have been. She doesn’t insist upon the inclusion of specific devices but suggests only that “they [can] ENRICH a poem” (11). Miss Stretchberry’s lessons are not demands, as Uncle Bill’s ideas are, but are more akin to play, allowing Jack to internalize them without feeling confined by them. Thus, he says her lesson in alliteration makes him feel “like there [are] / feathers in [his] brain,” a simile that suggests a tickling sensation that is unfamiliar but not unpleasant (14). With Miss Stretchberry as a teacher, Jack is free to explore language and ideas without worrying about following rules or the consequences of breaking them.