The
short story Catgut by Anna Gavalda
was a very interesting read for me for multiple reasons. When I first started reading this, I was
amazed to see that the main character was a veterinarian. My personal ambition is to become a
veterinarian one day, so this text really caught my attention. While reading, I really enjoyed the author’s
style of writing and the way she expressed the characters emotions throughout
the story; they are confusing at points, but yet sarcastic in her own way.
To sum up the short story of Catgut, the main character, a female veterinarian, Dr. Lejaret, describes
in gruesome terms the story about her rape and how she retaliated against the
men who severely hurt her. Prior to Dr. Lejaret’s assault, she was called to
the Billebaudes farm to address some issues that the owners apparently were
having with their livestock. However,
the farmer and a few of his buddies had other plans.
In
my personal opinion, the way she handled herself after she was assaulted is
truly amazing; I would have done the same if I were in her position. With the author’s sense of writing style, her
detailed description about how Dr. Lejaret performed unplanned, but necessary
surgery is quite interesting. “The
alcohol had rendered them harmless, but I still administered each of them a
dose of Ketamine. I didn’t want them
moving around. I took my time. I put on
some sterile gloves and cleaned them well with Betadine. Then, I stretched out the skin of the
scrotum. With my surgical blade, I made
a tiny incision. I took out the
testicles. I cut. I ligatured the epididymis and the vessel with catgut number
3.5. I put all that back into the scrotum and made a suture. It was very clean work.”
After
reading and comprehending this story, I realized it was very unexpecting and
different. I wonder why the author wrote
such a gruesome story; a very strange one if that. I ponder if possibly this could have happened
to her personally or if she knows someone who was attacked similarly relating
to the story.
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