Characters in a short story are designed by authors to create a particular theme. In the short story Kath and Mouse by Janet McNaughton, the character Kath is one who is perceived by readers to be not very nice. Readers would dislike her because she is haughty, malicious and insecure. First of all, Kath is haughty. Readers would believe Kath is haughty when Kevin asked Kath after she made fun of Helen’s backpack “Who made you queen of the world? (McNaughton, 63), she casually replied, “It doesn’t matter, does it? I just am, so you better get used to it” (McNaughton, 63). Also, Kath would never let someone sit at her table without an invitation. Furthermore, as Kevin had narrated, Kath thought she was queen of her school and could do whatever she wanted to. In short, Kath is haughty. Secondly, Kath is malicious. Her malicious nature is shown whenever she bullies Helen.
One example of this is when Kath ordered Helen outside to retrieve a soccer ball Kath kicked at her, and when Helen went outside, the door was closed on her, leaving her in the -10?C weather. Additionally, Kevin had narrated “that winter, it seemed to be my job to prove you didn’t get vaporized or turned into a frog if you did something that made Kath angry” (McNaughton, 62), which shows that even Kath’s twin brother finds her malicious. Lastly, Kath is insecure.
Her insecurity is noticed by readers when she begged Kevin to play piano for her audition for the school’s talent show. But when she finally understood that Kevin wasn’t going to help her, she turned away and said, “Be that way then. It’s not as if I need you” (McNaughton, 66), which shows how weak Kath really is: she lies to cover her insecurity. Moreover, Kath was hurt whenever Christine would invite everyone but Kath to her parties, but Kath would always act like it didn’t matter to her.
In addition to that, Kath responded so emotionally when Kevin refused to help her with her audition: “Kath looked like she might cry. She wasn’t used to hearing no” (McNaughton, 66). In summary, Kath is insecure. To conclude, Kath is a character who embodies several characteristics. Throughout this story, Kath is shown as haughty, malicious and insecure, and readers learn from those characteristics and from all of Kath’s mistakes that, eventually, how you treat others depicts how they will treat you.
