The Classic of Changes. The memoir begins with a scene of a daughter visiting her aging parents and quarreling over their cat, who has obviously replaced her. Ching is the beloved. Laura and Ching's dysfunctional relationship causes her parents distress, but also allows Lars and Rachel's parental roles to remain intact. Laura and Ching have a sibling rivalry that is ridiculous. When Laura is attacked, Lars defends the cat while Laura bleeds, "You moved too fast!" And then, "We live quietly, when you come it upsets her."
We learn from this introductory episode, that the cat is a child substitute for this childless couple, and that Lars has transferred affection from Laura to the cat, because Laura doesn't come around much. Ching, for her part, leaves dejectedly whenever Laura shows up.
Ching sleeps somewhere on almost every page. He is the elephant in the room. Living and sleeping on beds and boxes. On a day when Rachel calls Laura to tell her about her father's burns from the heating pad, the cat is lounging like a nude on a settee, in the foreground, licking herself. Ching is life going on.
On 15, Farmer uses Ching to reveal that Lars and Rachel are becoming incapable of parenting. Irregular feeding results in the cat taking matters into her own hands. She starts eating boxes. On 31 Ching begins to "think" in bubbles and even curses when her tricks are foiled. On 32-33 Ching and Laura suffer from the same affliction, mites from the poor conditions of the parents' home.
On 34, we see a "regular" cat, at Laura's house. This cat sits patiently on the floor beside the table, knowing his place. Ching on the other hand has broken free the bonds of normal pet/human relationships.
It's not until 36 that Ching begins to take her place, obediently, on a chair, observing, while Laura begins the tough work of bathing Rachel. She can't compete.
By 42. Ching is the only character in the book who sees the writing on the wall. The panel is told from Ching's pov. She watches Rachel hobbling in to the room, assisted with a walker, while sitting beside her (visibly!) stinking litter box. She's a cat after all, and a self preservationist if nothing else. She goes outside for the first time. Lars chases her outside and they collapse together. Lars expresses anxiety that she might leave the yard.
Ching doesn't appear at all in Chapter 4 until the end - - in Lars' lap as he realizes Rachel might be blind. He holds Ching as if he knows that she might be the more constant partner.
On 55: a panel of Laura in the kitchen preparing dinner and Ching is eating beside her from a bowl. Laura has begun caring for the cat and the roles are reversed. Laura is parenting her parents and their pet is becoming her pet.
In chapter 6, Laura and Ching "think" in bubbles. Laura doesn't know when to leave well enough alone, and gets scratched. Ching's thoughts are indicate that she, again, knows something Laura is just too "stupid and large" to see.
On 106, Laura again misunderstands Ching's aggression and takes it personally when it is just Ching vs. the Vacuum...
On 107, Lars instructs his daughter to feed Ching all the parts for gravy but the heart, which he eats himself to make him brave. (Sad implication being that Ching is equipped enough, but he needs all the tiny chicken heart he can get.)
On 128 Laura accidentally breaks the cat's tail and expresses (rare) remorse to her father (not to Ching). "I'm so sorry, Dad".
It's as if the cat gives everyone a chance to be emotional and forgiving and remorseful.
Ching, unlike any character who must caretake, is allowed to simply "be" with Lars as he lays dying.
Skipping ahead, to the end, Farmer brings closure to her memoir with a cat tale. Ching now goes outside and learns to stay nearby. The narrator has finally come to terms with the cat as a parent substitute, but I mean something more than this I can't really articulate. The final exclamation, "Dad! Dad! Can you see this!" was the gut punch, for this reader. I had been steeling myself through the rest of it.
Over. Relief. Sadness.
i was trying to track Ching even before i got to the end. Was he the foil? the reason for living? Did he indicate their position in terms of finances and abilities? Was he cleaning his own cat box?
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of creating the continuity of Ching and his interplay with the narrator and narrative.
e
Wow Kristin this is a great mapping of Ching's role in the narrative that Farmer has constructed. As I was also steeling myself against and through the piece (hence in part my attention to craft as opposed to content in my response) I hadn't considered Ching's character with this much attention. I find the role reversals/substitutions that you sight resonant, which makes me wonder as Elmaz has asked above if Ching was the foil. I'm not sure that he was, but certainly he illuminated and amplified particular elements of the story that brought richness and closeness to our understanding.
ReplyDeleteHey K,
ReplyDeleteIn regards to e's response I also wanted to point out that Lars's condition rapidly declined after Ching was sent away, which supports e's theory that perhaps Ching was the reason for living.
Your close read of Ching's role in the story was well done. I thought of the way Ching was a child-substitute a little while reading, but now that you bring it to light it is quite obvious. Since Ching and Laura are sort of fulfilling similar roles for Lars and Rachel I found it ironic that only they become infected with the skin mites (gross, by the way!). I went back and double checked to make sure Lars and Rachel didn't get infected and they didn't. I guess it's a funny life coincidence.
Thanks for sharing,
Margaret Seelie
I thought the way Ching and Laura feature in the end of the story represented a mutual sort of peace with regards to the dying process, and all of the miscommunications not only between the three people, but between the two of them. Throughout the story Laura seemed almost resentful of Ching, which makes your idea of the replacement child make a lot of sense. Laura did all of the caring, and it really was Ching who was able to just "be" with them, like you said. Ching on the fence at the end seemed to reference a kind of freedom they both felt after making peace with each other and the circumstances.
ReplyDelete