Macavity: A Mystery Cat

T.S. Eliot uses many literary techniques that make the poem "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" humorous. Symbolism, anthropomorphism, and personification are commonly used by authors. The thought of having a hidden meaning behind a story using a symbol, giving an animal human characteristics, and giving inanimate objects human qualities makes readers laugh, especially, when carefully analyzed, the reader discovers the author is actually making fun of someone well known. Since Eliot uses all three of these common literary techniques, it makes the poem more enjoyable.

Instead of using a human being as the main character in the poem, Eliot uses a cat. Cats are sly, sneaky, sleek, quick, and careful creatures that make sure they don't get caught after doing something bad. Using a cat in a poem makes the reader think of someone bad like a criminal or thief. Without knowing it, your brain replaces the word cat in the poem with the word criminal in your mind to make it easier for you to understand. "His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed" (Eliot 290) can be interpreted as old clothes and an unkempt beard when thinking of the cat as a person.

Giving animals human characteristics makes a poem very amusing. "He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)" (Eliot 291) suggests that a cat is able to play and cheat at cards. The reader knows very well that a cat cannot hold cards, let alone think up a sneaky plan to fix the game. "For he's a master criminal who can defy the Law" (Eliot 290) and "He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity" (Eliot 290) indicates that a cat can be a criminal. In reality, a cat can break any human law and not pay the penalty like humans would. The use of anthropomorphism makes the pom seem unrealistic in a humorous way.

T.S. Eliot gives inanimate objects human qualities. "His brow is deeply lined with thought..." (Eliot 290). A brow cannot be lined with thoughts. Eyebrows are not living things on peoples' faces. In the poem the cat is supposed to have eyebrows lined with thought. However, cats don't have eyebrows. "And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray..." (Eliot 291) suggests a piece of paper got up and walked away. Even though the author is actually portraying that the Treaty is missing, a piece of paper cannot go astray because it can't walk. Saying objects that aren't living can move or have feelings makes the poem seem so dumb that it's funny.

There is more than one way to make a poem humorous. Symbolism, anthropomorphism, and personification are only three of the ways analyzed that make the poem funny. It's important to relay poems in order to discover any hidden meanings. It also helps to interpret any other uses of literary techniques. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" contains many humorous forms of literary techniques.

Works Cited

Joseph, Amanda, and Wendy Mathieu. Viewpoints 11. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 2001