Cats

Cats are an important part of the novel, and they operate as symbols within the text that morph and change meaning as the story progresses. They have a strong connection to Bajran, who is the most important character in both of the narrator’s lives.

When Bekim is a child, he suffers from severe nightmares about snakes, but when his parents take him to a psychologist, she makes him write two lists of animals, one list for animals he liked, and one animals for animals he did not like: “She placed a finger on the second list. Can you explain why he might have put cats on this list and not the other one? … I told the woman that I didn’t particularly care for cats either, I am like my son. They are too erratic, too quiet" (159-160). But Emine does not hate cats like...