Cat Person

Red Vines are the reason that Margot and Robert interact in the first place: Margot gently mocks Robert’s choice of movie food, and it becomes a joke between them. The presence of Red Vines, much like Margot’s initial attraction to Robert, wanes throughout the piece. In fact, the first appearance of Red Vines at the movie theater when Margot and Robbie meet is the only time Red Vines physically manifest in the story: after, they are only Robert’s unfulfilled promise to Margot. This might foreshadow Robert’s inability to sexually satisfy Margot later on, even as Margot clings to the hope of their presence.

Red Vines might also signify The Question of Stranger Danger: They are the only thing Margot knows about Robert when she gives him her phone number. The candy represents his relative strangeness to her and how little she knows about him. In this way, they signify the dissonance between Robert and Margot: They are of different generations, as their candy preferences suggest.

Other than his propensity to eat Red Vines at the movies, Margot knows that Robert has cats—at least, so he alleges.