Symbolism and Redemption in Steven Barthelme's "Claire"

The Cat as Symbol of Bailey's Inner Self

"Claire" by Steven Barthelme is a story about a man who has lost the love of his life, Claire, mainly because of an addiction to gambling. Although the couple has parted and Claire intends to marry someone else, they still love each other and have remained friends. Bailey often borrows money from her to support his habit, and the reader gets the feeling early in the story that Bailey is going from bad to worse, becoming increasingly seedy. The cat appears like a signal that something is about to change. The cat represents Bailey himself and the condition of his consciousness. This can be seen in the cat's neediness, its opportunism or good luck, and its basic likeableness.

Neediness and Hunger: Bailey and the Cat

That the cat is needy, just as Bailey is needy, is clear at the moment it enters the story: "The cat watched him. Bailey reached carefully in over its head and took hold of the scruff of the neck and lifted the cat out of the seat. 'Jesus,' he said. 'You're just bones. You haven't eaten in a month'" (p. 326). Bailey's own hunger is not physical but spiritual and emotional. He feels that his life is meaningless now that he and Claire are no longer together. As he explains to her after meeting the new man in her life:

"All that time when we were together, when I was a lowlife, a slacker, every goddamn day, it was electric. Something wonderful was coming. I remember how wonderful stuff at the grocery store was, those Rubbermaid things and the little hardware display and funny vegetables. Then I got a job and a nice fat salary." He turned his palms up and gave her a puzzled look. "All gone," he said (p. 339).

The cat, hungry for food to nourish its body, is a symbol of Bailey's hunger for real love and for meaning — Claire's love — to nourish his soul and make his life meaningful again. Inside, he is just like the cat: all bony and scruffy. As students of literary symbolism will recognize, this kind of mirroring between character and object is a classic device for externalizing a protagonist's interior state.

The Cat as Good Luck and Redemption

The cat also represents good fortune arriving unexpectedly — luck coming in the door, or in Bailey's case, the car. It appears out of nowhere in his car and refuses to leave him. When Bailey decides to accept the cat and help it survive, this marks a change in his consciousness. This is the first moment when he becomes a sympathetic character to the reader. In a sense, the cat is his redemption. Prior to his encounter with the cat, we experience him as a "user" — someone who borrows money, has no pride, and doesn't seem to have much conscience. But when he keeps the cat, we sense that something good is about to happen to him. And, of course, it does. That night he wins sixteen thousand dollars at the casino. Yet he realizes that the money itself doesn't make him happy:

"It came to him that Claire wouldn't care about it, not at all. She'd be happy to take her loan money back, but that's all. He hadn't done anything at all, the way she saw it. Just didn't matter to her. He ran through some channels on the TV, settled on some talk show, set the control down. He touched his pocket, looked toward the kitchen. 'God-damn it,' he said, 'get in here, you pest'" (p. 333).

It is significant that he calls the cat to him at the very moment he realizes that gambling does not make him feel happy or satisfied. The cat has found a relationship — with him — that is satisfying, and it knows enough not to let go of it. In the same way, Bailey begins to recognize the value of his relationship with Claire.