“They’d been distracted ever since the cat had run away, and even more so after they learned about Benoit’s dog being eaten by wolves. Every time Oliver heard a noise outside, he would stop what he was doing and go to the door, open it and listen. He listened to the screech of the owls, the howling of the wolves, and even the cawing of the ravens with equal trepidation.” (Ozeki, 2013)
This excerpt narrates the story of an instance in the text ‘A Tale for the Time Being’ when Ruth and Oliver’s cat got lost in the forest. It starts with them being distracted and worried about where the cat might be. Their situation is worsened by a story they heard of Benoit’s dog which had gotten lost and been eaten by wolves. Each time that Oliver hears a noise outside he would go to the door to listen to any sound that would alert him of the cat’s whereabouts.
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Oliver tries to comfort Ruth by saying that he doesn’t think anything can happen to him out there. He eventually can’t keep on waiting so he decides to go out and look for him once the winds subside a little bit. Ruth stays behind. She puts more wood at the fireplace and gets her raincoat and gumboots. She doesn’t know whether to follow him or just stay. She then realizes that going would be a foolish decision.
As she gathers some piles of wood to restack on the fireplace she hears a loud cry from over her head. She looks up only to see a crow looking at her seeming to warn her about something. The lights then go out. She tries to tell the crow to go out and search for him but she realizes this it was stupid since the crow couldn’t hear her. It just continued to look at her. Oliver then emerges from the trees drenched. He couldn’t find Pesto.
The book ‘A Tale for the Time Being’ is a literary fictional novel. The story is told in four parts, it involves two protagonists and goes back and forth about their stories. There is sixteen year old Naoko Yasutani (Nao) and Ruth a Japanese American novelist. The text features various themes such as the fluidity of roles between reader and writer. This indicates the strong parallel connection between the two protagonists. As Ruth continues to be more obsessed with Nao’s story, Oliver continues to note her continued obsession with this girl that she knows nothing about. He has to remain as the rational partner in the relationship, knocking her back to reality. There is also Multiplicity of identity. Nao addresses the other protagonist as you as if they were many. Nao is speaking to both Ruth and Oliver. In time she is able to directly communicate with Ruth and Ruth tells her that she is sited with a cat on her lap.
The setting of the piece is on an occasion that the cat gets lost, it shows how Oliver and Ruth were worried about the cat’s whereabouts. There was heavy rain and they didn’t know where the cat was. They were worried about the weather since the cat could get swept away or die from the extreme cold. The darkness and the sounds are used to show just how dangerous the situation is. Crows are used as an important source of imagery throughout the book. Crows in the book seem to indicate direction or when something is about to happen that the character is not aware of.
The Crow makes a sharp sound when Ruth walks outside to gather some wood for the fire. Just after she looks at the crow it goes dark since the light have gone out. Oliver then appears from the darkness drenched without the cat. “Caw!” cried the crow again, and when she turned back, she saw Oliver emerging from the wind-lashed trees, dripping with rain. Seeing her standing there with the wood, he spread out his arms. His wet hands were empty. No cat (Ozeki, 2013) . It also shows her need to get away from where she lives. In most cultures in the world a crow crowing in a time of distress symbolizes death. The Crow in this situation might be used to indicate that Oliver or the cat is already dead and there is no need to worry so much about it. The characters seem to be very devastated by the loss of the cat. It seems to echo the same devastation that Ruth has when she realizes that the Nao’s Journal has ended without her knowing how her story ends up.
The whole excerpt seems to be share a common relation with the issues Ruth has with connecting with Nao. Oliver is portrayed to be very brave and willing to do anything so as to help those that he cares about. This is reflected in his worry about Ruth’s deteriorating state. Her mental health continues to get worse, the more she worries about this girl that she knows nothing about. Ruth is too caught up in this fictional connection that she doesn’t notice the complete passage of time in the real world. It is not until Oliver tells her that she notices and is knocked back to reality. The cat’s nickname is Pesto or Pest, but its real name is Schrodinger. The cat is lost and probably already dead. This situation causes Ruth to feel so much guilt. Ruth’s situation with the cat is related to Nao and her father. Both are in the situation of uncertainty, they do not know whether the cat or in Nao’s case her father are dead or alive.
References
Ozeki, R. (2013). A Tale for the Time Being. New York: Viking publishing.
