Cat in Glass Notes

The narrator, Nancy Etchemendy, reflects on her life, stating she was once a "respectable woman."
She acknowledges her current state, lying eyeless in a hospital bed due to inflicted wounds.
The narrator claims her actions were to save everyone from the "Cat in Glass."

The story begins 52 years prior to the narration, when the narrator's sister, Delia, was attacked by an animal.
The incident occurred on an ordinary spring afternoon with no witnesses except the housekeeper, Fiona.
Fiona found Delia in a state of extreme injury; she had not heard any screams.
The narrator describes entering the house to Fiona's screams and witnessing the horrific scene.
Delia was unrecognizable, with her throat shredded, jaw ripped away, and severe wounds all over her body.
The family dog, Freddy, was also dead with a broken neck.
The narrator recalls looking at the glass cat sculpture on the hearth and feeling it glare at her with satisfaction.
Her father, a professor of art history, valued the sculpture.
The narrator reflects on her mother's death a year prior and how she thought she had survived the worst, but now realizes the world is more evil than she imagined.

Delia dies in the hospital shortly after the attack.
Police blamed Freddy, the dog, despite the narrator's disbelief.
The narrator remembers a newspaper clipping theorizing the pit bull attacked Delia and broke its own neck in the struggle; she found that theory unconvincing.
The police were mystified but considered the matter closed; the narrator states it had only just begun.

The narrator was sent to her Aunt Josie's house for months.
Her father's whereabouts during that time are unknown to her, but she suspects he was in a sanatorium.
She felt deserted and had nightmares about the glass cat prowling around.
Upon his return, her father appeared strained and weary.
When asked what they should do, the narrator responded with fear about the cat.
Her father said he supposed the sculpture was still there and promised she would never see the Chelichev Cat in Glass again as long as he lived.

The Chelichev Cat in Glass was packed and put into storage.
Her father sold the house, and they travelled for two years before returning to a new home.
The glass cat was not brought up from storage.
Years later, now a schoolteacher married to a banker with two daughters, the narrator believed her life was settled.
Her father's sudden death from a heart attack disrupts events.
He was found at his desk with Erik Satie's Dadaist composition "La Belle Excentrique."

The narrator inherited her father's house and possessions, finding his affairs in disarray.
His attorney helped manage paperwork and arranged the sale of the house and shipment of its contents.
A large box labeled "fragile" arrived, containing the glass cat.
The narrator experienced a strong, negative emotional reaction upon seeing it, triggering memories of Delia's death.
She fled the house in distress, seeking refuge in a diner before returning home.

The narrator unpacked the box and found the sculpture, along with a letter from her father explaining its origins.
Her father wrote explaining that the box contains a sculpture, Cat in Glass, designed and executed by the late Alexander Chelichev.
He purchased the sculpture directly from Chelichev in Zurich in 1915.
Chelichev's statement: He struggled with the Devil and his presence is in the work, he killed his father, fears the father-devil in him so he spend little time with his children.
Instead of hurting his children he made this cat, pouring his madness into the glass.
Her father believed it was Chelichev's last finished creation.

After learning about the cat's potential worth, Stephen was excited by how wealthy they could become.
The narrator was putting dinner on the table; Eleanor and Rose were quarreling in the playroom.
She stated maybe they could sell it and hire a maid.
The conversation escalated into an argument over keeping the sculpture, with the narrator wanting to get rid of it due to its connection to Delia's death.

Stephen involved their daughters in the decision about keeping the cat to influence his wife.
Eleanor was enthralled by the glass cat but Rose was afraid of it.
Stephen pushed Rose to touch the sculpture, resulting in a small cut on her finger.
Rose's overreaction and screams were dismissed by Stephen, who minimized it as a scratch.

Rose died from blood poisoning, allegedly from the scratch.
The narrator blamed the glass cat, but Stephen dismissed her claims and wanted to sue Dr. Pepperman for malpractice.
The narrator was insistent an evil cat had bitten their child.
The doctors dismissed he accusations and blamed delusions brought on by grief, saying in time it would pass.
The narrator could not sleep, fearing the cat was waiting for new meat.
Everything reminded her of Rosie.

The narrator saw the Cat in Glass was in Eleanor's home.
The narrator was horrified to find the glass cat in Eleanor's house again after Stephen told her he had sold it.
Eleanor revealed Stephen had died ten years prior.
The narrator warned Eleanor that the monstrosity killed her sisters, as it was made out of madness, and to put it up for auction.
Eleanor refused to dispose of the sculpture due to its financial value and declared that she was moving her mother into an apartment because of the financial strain it was to keep her at the hospital.
The narrator felt the way to safety and isolation was through and the only way out was by destroying the cat.
She felt the baleful gaze of the cat through walls and furniture.

Unable to convince Eleanor, the narrator planned to destroy the cat to protect her granddaughters.
After a conversation with Jason and Eleanor, the narrator got a hammer and hid it under bedding.
She crept out to where the glass cat sat waiting. It was moving with a smile.
She uses a sledgehammer to destroy the sculpture.
In the process, she accidentally struck and killed Elizabeth, her granddaughter who reminded her of Rosie.

The Epilogue reveals the narrator is now blind and hospitalized.
The narrator acknowledges she ruined Ellanor's primary investment.
She received a rose from Jason and a note that said Elizabeth was a great one for forgiving, and would have wanted her to have this, to sleep well.
The narrator believed she had only destroyed a valuable work of art.
The matron said she did not know what she had done.