The hotel owner
The hotel owner – or “padrone” – is a secondary character in the story “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway. He is most likely an Italian, but knows some English: “ ‘Si, Si, Signora, brutto tempo. It is very bad weather.’ ” (l. 22)
The hotel owner’s outer characterisation is briefly constructed through the narrator’s words: “He was an old man and very tall.” (l. 20); “She liked his old, heavy face and big hands” (l. 25). These masculine traits suggest that he symbolises a type of masculinity that the American woman is attracted to, and that she probably cannot find in her husband.
Inner characterisation
The hotel owner’s inner characterisation is constructed through his actions. He is polite to the American woman: “The wife went downstairs and the hotel owner stood up and bowed to her as she passed the office.” (l. 19) We are told that he is “deadly serious” (l. 23)...