J’Accuse
A faithful feline bides his time until two criminals are brought to justice.
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
A faithful feline bides his time until two criminals are brought to justice.
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
It is usual to suppose that cats are not loyal like dogs, or especially concerned with what does not directly affect them. But Victorian cartoonist Charles Ross tells us about a French cat whose sense of justice was truly single-minded.
A WOMAN was murdered at Lyons, and when the body was found weltering in blood, a large white Cat was seen mounted on the cornice of a cupboard. He sat motionless, his eyes fixed on the corpse, and his attitude and looks expressing horror and affright. Next morning he was still found there; and when the room was filled by the officers of justice, neither the clattering of the soldiers’ arms nor the loud conversation frightened him away.
As soon, however, as the suspected persons were brought in, his eyes glared with fury, and his hair bristled. He darted into the middle of the room, where he stopped for a moment to gaze on them, and then fled precipitately. The faces of the assassins showed, for the first time, signs of guilt: they afterwards confessed.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.