(Sorry that this is a bit delayed because of boring physical health stuff. I’m a bit pleased with myself that I’m not getting into a worry-loop about it being slow and that making me even slower!)

I choose the theme of Vanity after a skim read a couple of weeks ago and now on re-reading it seems like Envy might have been a better fit for what actually happens in this chapter. But I’m going to stick with Vanity because I think it’s interesting to delve more deeply into my first impressions and as a disciple to make myself look beyond the obvious. And it’s not as if reading today through one thematic lens stops me from reading later with a different one! In fact coming back and re-Reading and looking for and finding different things in a text is a huge part of all sacred Reading practices and traditions. Even our understanding of a single theme will develop over time so we’ll notice it in different ways in the text. Just like how using the different Reading Practices gives us different insights that build into a deeper and richer understanding.
Also I think Vanity and Envy can be closely entwined and I want to explore that relationship more.
But before I start thinking about Vanity a recap:

Gobbolino arrives in a town
He finds a strange house full of cats
The Little Old Man who lives there keeps them as show cats
He thinks Gobbolino is particularly beautiful
The other cats are jealous of the attention Gobbolino gets from him
The Cat Show is huge and overwhelming
Gobbolino is awarded Best in Show
The losing show cats out him as a Witch’s Cat
The Little Old Man throws Gobbolino into the road

Gobbolino is taken in to be a Show Cat
The other Show Cats are jealous and gossipy
When Gobbolino is revealed to be a Witch’s Cat he is disqualified and abandoned.

When I first read this chapter I thought of the other Show Cats in the Little Old Man’s collection as being vain but the more I think about the situation they are in the more their attitude seems structural. Their whole lives are revolved around their appearance and being shown. The don’t seem to get to play or have any other work or role in life. So of course their looks and their show ribbons are important to them. A large part of each day is taken up with them being brushed, combed And prettied up and the Little Old Man’s caring seems to be entirely based around their looks and their ability to give him show-winning glory. All of his words to Gobbolino up until the final rejection are about how pretty he is - presumably the way he speaks to the other cats is the same. And the nature of the Shows is that there can only be one winner in each class and only one Best in Show - so the Show Cats live in a world of (false) scarcity where their looks are the only thing that gives the, worth and they are always pitted against each other. “Vanity“ is a survival mechanism for them.
I think the sort of conditional affirmation they get from the a Little Old Man, and from the Show Judges is very interesting. Being told that you are beautiful should be a good thing! But in this situation beautiful is the only thing they can be - no one is interested in whether they are clever, or kind or a skilled mouser. They probably fear that if they ever lose their looks then they will no longer get care and attention from the Little Old Man - do they even risk losing their home if they can no longer perform at the shows? It’s not clear if his threats before the show are empty or something the Show Cats should be genuinely concerned about. Show-winning beauty isn’t something they can work on developing or earn - it’s a combination of fortunate genetics and the constant (and probably quite exhausting) grooming from the Little Old Man. It reminds me of the research about fixed and growth mindsets and how complimenting children on their cleverness can prompt them to underperform. No wonder the Show Cats are left feeling insecure and need to prop up their self esteem with competitive vanity. The Little Old Man even encourages Gobbolino to notice the other Show Cats being jealous of him as if that is a compliment on his good looks!
I also think there is something about how vanity is coded as a particularly feminine failing. The world of the Show Cats is very passive and full of feminine coded behaviours (beauty regimes and gossiping) and objects (ribbons and velvet cushions). If the Show Cats we’re allowed to explore other roles (and ways of presenting themselves) would they be less focused on their looks? And if they were less focused on their looks would they be less vain? Or would they be just as vain but about different things? (Somehow vanity about other attributes like intelligence or possessions is classed differently (and is less feminine coded) than vanity about appearance). How much is vanity a character trait and how much is it situational?
And are their less toxic ways that the Show Cats could be appreciated for their good looks (after all all cats are beautiful!) and for other qualities that they have in a more rounded way?

One thing I do like is that it seems that at the Show there is more than one standard of feline beauty and excellence (even though there can obviously only be one best in show and it would be interesting to see how similar or different different years BiS were from each other). The overwhelming description of the hundreds and hundreds of show cats with their exciters mewing shows an impressive am,punt of diversity:

There they were, in hundreds and hundreds of cages lining the Town Hall - big cats, little catS, black cats, white cats, tabby cats, Persian cats, fat cats, thin cats, handsome cats, ugly cats, cats from China, cats from Siam, Manx cats, pet cats, wild cats, tom cats and last of all the little old man’s cats and Gobbolino the witch’s cats with his beautiful blue eyes looking on at it all.

A sentence that particularly struck me was the Chincilla asking Gobbolino’s Persian neighbour
Tell me, madam, who is that black and odd-looking stranger you have brought with you Between humans pairing Black with odd-looking could only be racist but in the cat world fur colour seems to be pretty neutral concept (although being completely black is traditionally associated with Witch’s Cats) and even odd-looking seems like less of a value judgement - Gobbolino is odd because he looks more like a Witch’s Cat than most Show Cats do but that isn’t something that is going to stop him from winning a prize.

We are often told that Gobbolino is beautiful - and humans frequently comment on his beautiful blue eyes. He seems fairly neutral about it, not fishing for further compliments or dismissing them. He just seems to take it as a fact about himself. I do wonder how much of his attitude to his appearance is shaped by his initial rejection (in part) for not looking like a Witch’s Cat? I think that would make me feel insecure about my looks and find it hard to take compliments. But maybe he finds being complimented on his non-Witch’s-Cat-like blue eyes affirming of his having left that life?

The vainest character in the chapter seems to be the Little Old Man - he cares about his cats as potential Show winners not as (feline) people. Although he has devoted his life to them he has a very limited view of their welfare, keeping them fed and beautifully groomed but seemingly not caring for them emotionally or letting them lead full lives. They have become an extension of his vanity. In a world we’re cats can speak and are obviously sentient then any show win should be seen as joint effort between the cat and the human who prepares them for showing. But the Little Old Man seems to only care about his win. In the run up to the show he becomes less careful of the Show Cats comfort [h]e became very bad-tempered with his haste and exertion, scolding and hustling the cats and never once telling Gobbolino how beautiful he was. He is so preoccupied with winning that he even threatens his supposed beloved Show Cats with taking away their food and comforts, with violence and losing their home. It makes me wonder why winning is so very important to him that he will become abusive to achieve it? Is that toxic drive coming from fragile vanity or something else?

I didn’t think that I had quite to much to say about Vanity. What do you think? And what have I missed?
For Scared Reading Practices we have come back around to Lectio Divina which I will try to get done soon along with Blessings. Then next time I shall be looking at Chapter 10 Gobbolino At Sea through the theme of Knowledge