The Cat Who Went To Heaven written by Elizabeth Coatsworth is a truly astounding novel with many life themes, and seemingly simple characters with complex personalities and character changes. The story is set in a small Japanese home, where a painter and his housekeeper reside. The painter spends his day painting, even though no one buys his painting. The housekeeper scrubs and cleans all day, and tries to save their few pennies, wheedling and bartering at the market to get more food. One day, the housekeeper comes home with a tri-colored cat, which the painter is scornful of at first, but then declares is lucky. The cat actually brings good fortune, for soon after, the priest from the village temple asks the painter to paint a picture of the death of Buddha. The painter works all day long and very hard, but the priest still rejects it when the painter adds the cursed cat into the painting from his love and compassion for the house cat, Good Fortune. Later on, though, the painting is discovered to be left in remains from its burning, and only the cat, under the hand of the Buddha, remained. With a rich plot and character twists, Elizabeth Cotasworth tells a story of a cat, a painter, and a god struggling to find their own character and mistakes.
Forgiveness is the ultimate level of depicting a kind soul. Forgiveness is really hard to achieve, and those who are truly kind and generous are those who are worthy of possessing the skill or forgiveness. In The Cat Who Went To Heaven, many characters change in the course of the plot. Buddha, the god that the other 4 main characters honor in the book, even learns a lesson. At first, Buddha rejects the cat because it has not accepted his teachings, and does not give the cat the blessing to reach Nirvana, the final goal of Buddhism. This causes the cat to have to stay behind when every other animal gets to be blessed. However, by the end of the book, influenced by Good Fortune’s good manners and kindness in the book. The highest level of forgiveness is to give up any anger, hatred, or revenge toward those who had hurt them, regardless whether they actually deserve forgiveness. Buddha achieves this state in the book by giving the cat the final blessing. Forgiveness is not the easiest thing to achieve, and it’s only real when the person actually means it from the core. Forgiveness is worthy to those who have infused their soul into their words.
Redemption requires the full understanding of the mistake and full desire to compensate for it. Redemption doesn’t mean just saying sorry and saying that you won’t do something again. It actually means meaning the words you say and making efforts to correct yourself. The cat, in the story, and in Buddhist literature, didn’t accept Buddha's teachings or bow down to him or offer him homage or be respectful, so the cat, when it was time to bless the animals, was not blessed. Based on its own superiority and self righteousness, the cat was not given the privilege to reach Nirvana. Throughout the story, the cat goes through redemption. Since redemption is to be saved from evil sins and mistakes, the cat makes efforts to correct their wrong by praying before the altar of Buddha every day and being well-mannered and kind. The cat achieves redemption by the end of the novel, and is given the blessing of Buddha. The one who goes through redemption shall be the one that is humble, and the one that goes through redemption shall go with a heavy heart and come out with a fresh one. Redemption is not easy for everyone, and everyone has a different kind of redemption.
Compassion is the ability to feel and sympathize, and to sympathize is to be able to have mercy on the lesser. Having compassion means being able to feel what others feel, and being able to feel what others feel gives you the ability to have mercy on the lesser. In the story, the painter learns how to be compassionate and sympathize with other beings, as well as have mercy on the one who is considered less than others. Painter sees the cat suffer, and he feels sorry. He wants to do something for him, and he does, by adding the cat despite his own money being whisked away and his hard work going to trash. Before, the painter didn’t want to paint the cat in fear of becoming even more broke, but then, paints the cat anyways out of compassion and love. Painter learns why and how Buddha shows mercy to the creatures in his previous lives even though he knows that he is messing up his chances of becoming rich and famous. Instead, he chose to be kind, caring, compassionate, and with mercy. Giving mercy to others isn’t hard, but making sure you mean it is hard. The core of compassion stems from yourself, the flowing true meaning of your intentions.
The Cat Who Went to Heaven, is a very fascinating novel written by Elizabeth Coatsworth that shares many themes among hidden stories and rich characters. Forgiveness is shown as a worthy theme in this book, and describes how even the highest being, or what you think is the highest being still has space to improve and correct mistakes. Buddha, though thought to be very sophisticated and enlightened, still has a heart to talk with his subjects and forgive those who have been deemed bad before. Redemption is also a theme in this book, and the cat in the novel learns to accept their mistakes and move on, compensating for it along the way, instead of ignoring it and acting as if it wasn't there. Compassion and mercy are also conveyed strongly throughout the book, and the painter learns to have compassion and mercy, and to give up some things for the benefit of others, a balance between yourself and others. Elizabeth Coatswroth really tells a compelling novel with a vivid plot and complex themes.
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