Three Days in June

The cat that Max brings to Gail’s house is a symbol with meaning that shifts over time. Initially, it represents what Gail views as Max’s poor boundaries and lack of regard for other people’s perspectives. He chooses to begin fostering the animal right before he is due to spend the three days surrounding his daughter’s wedding at her house: Max has not considered that bringing a new foster animal to a bride-to-be’s home during the hectic time surrounding her wedding might be inconsiderate. When he learns that Kenneth is allergic to cats and that he cannot stay at Debbie’s, he blithely heads to Gail’s, intending to let himself in with her spare key while she is at work. Again, he shows a disregard for other people’s space and feelings: He does not stop to consider the idea that Gail might not want her ex-husband as a house guest or want to host an animal. 

Yet, as the novel progresses, Gail and Max’s relationship undergoes an important shift. Gail becomes more charitable toward Max and finds that she can return the kindness that he shows her. They are both experiencing and have begun to ruminate on the way that aging changes people and impacts The Complexities of Familial Relationships. Gail begins the novel with residual resentment toward Max and an adamant opposition to his suggestion that she adopt the cat. However, throughout the wedding, Gail changes not only the way she thinks about Max but also how she understands herself. For one, her ongoing meddling in Debbie’s life forces her to reconsider her initial insistence that she is no longer interested in “caretaking.” However, as Debbie is now an adult, the cat provides a healthier outlet for the maternal feelings Gail previously denied. More broadly, Gail becomes less rigid, less solitary, and less sure that she wants to live alone. She admits to herself that she does still crave connection, and her decision to adopt the cat at the novel’s end is evidence of Gail coming to terms with herself as an emotional being who craves connection, foreshadowing her renewed relationship with Max himself and developing the theme of The Impact of Personal Crises on Self-Perception.