Cat's Eye

In the present, Elaine wishes she were in Vancouver with Ben. She arrives at the gallery hosting her retrospective and remembers that she always disliked galleries because they remind her of churches. Inside, she thinks about the value of her paintings and whether it would increase if she killed herself. She sees one painting of Mrs. Smeath wearing nothing but her bib apron, reclining on her sofa and rising to Heaven: The piece is called Rubber Plant: The Ascension. Looking at her paintings, she has to resist finding faults.

A journalist interviews Elaine. Elaine feels judged by the younger woman as she asks her questions. They talk about gender, and the journalist seems startled that Elaine was taught by Josef Hrbik, a man. Elaine refuses to identify as a feminist painter because she hates “party lines.” When the journalist asks her why she paints mostly women, Elaine is defensive. When she asks her why she paints, she replies, “[W]hy does anyone do anything?” (95).

As a child, Cordelia looks down on the Smeaths for buying all their clothes from catalogs. She fixates on the brassiere section of the catalog and is fascinated by the way her sisters’ bodies have changed as they get older.