"The Catbird Seat" - James Thurber

Analysis-

The story is written in 3rd person omiscient objecctive. There are several characters involved in this story, Mr. Martin, Mr. Fitweiler, and Mrs. Barrows are the three main characters. The introduction includes Mr. Martin contemplating what he is going to do and then the story switches to past events. The rising action includes Mr. Martin going to Mrs. Barrows apartment to have a whiskey and smoke and tell her how he was wants to kill Mr. Fitweiler. The climax is the next day when Mrs. Barrows goes to tell Mr. Fitweiler that Mr. Martin wanted to kill him. The falling action is when Mr. Fitweiler tells Mr. Martin that Mrs. Barrows is probably just losing it and that Mr. Martin would never drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes. The denouement occurs when Mrs. Barrows confronts Mr. Martin about lying to Mr. Fitweiler and the truth is that he did go and say that he was going to get rid of Mr. Fitweiler, but it was all just a big plan to make Mrs. Barrows seem insane so that he could get rid of her. The setting would be in the 1940's which explains why Mr. Fitweiler would believe the man over the woman.

Response-

This short story was not on my favorite list. I didn't understand right away when it switch from present time to the past when Mr. Martin was explaining how annoying Mrs. Martin was. I must say that it was an genuis plan to get rid of Mrs. Barrows. He planned it out very carefully and made sure he wasn't to obvious about anything. This plan would have never worked in now-a-days. Women are now thought equally as men, even though some would still like to disagree.