This document provides background information on Catherine, a 17-year-old girl who is the focus of the play. It describes her as naive and dependent on her uncle Eddie. It also outlines Catherine's relationships with Eddie, her aunt Beatrice, and Rodolpho, noting how Eddie is overly protective of her and jealous of her interactions with Rodolpho. Several key scenes are summarized, including one where Eddie kisses Catherine, revealing his romantic feelings for her.

1. By Harriet Webb, Chloe Ward and Grace Wheatley
CATHERINE

2. BACKGROUND
 Catherine is an attractive 17 year old girl.
 Because she has hardly ever left Brooklyn she is very naïve
 She is not very good at standing up for herself
 She only ever wants to please Eddie, and gets upset when she feels like she’s done
something wrong
 In Act II she reveals that she is in fact quite intelligent when she says: ‘You don’t
know; nobody knows! I’m not a baby, I know a lot more than people think I know.’
 Also, she gets told by her teacher that she’s the best student in the class – that’s why
she gets offered a job
 Despite this she does still rely on Eddie and Beatrice for a lot of things though, and
can’t seem to grow up
 However we see sometimes that maybe Eddie doesn’t want her to grow up because
he wants her all to himself

3. RELATIONSHIPS
 BEATRICE:
Catherine has a strong bond with Beatrice as she is her aunt. Beatrice
constantly encourages Catherine to go for the job that she has been offered,
and she knows she needs to grow up and become more independent. She
only wants the best for Catherine. She is a very kind and caring person, who
cares about her home and family appearance. We can see this as when she
hears the news of her cousins arrival, she says: ‘I was gonna wash the walls, I
was gonna buy a new table cloth.’ This shows she is a very proud house wife.
Beatrice is the only one to highlight Eddie’s possible feelings for Catherine
when she says: ‘You want something else, Eddie- and you can never have
her!’
The relationship Catherine has with her aunt Beatrice is significant in the play
because it highlights just how much Catherine needs to mature to become
more independent.

4. RELATIONSHIPS
 EDDIE:
Catherine and Eddie have a very strong relationship. Sometimes it seems so
strong that he is seen as her father rather than her uncle, as she has grown
up with him as the ‘man of the house’. Their relationship sometimes seems
a little too close however, and when Catherine is around Eddie we see her
childish side come out and she acts a lot more immature. We can see that
even Beatrice notices their close relationship when she says: ‘Sometimes
you throw yourself at him like when you was twelve years old’, and, ‘It’s
wonderful for a whole family to love each other, but you’re a grown woman
and you’re in the same house as a grown man.’
At some points through out the play though we can see that maybe
Catherine’s inability to grow up is down to the fact that Eddie won’t let her.
He is very protective of her, which we see when she shows him her new skirt
and he doesn’t like it. When he tells her he doesn’t like it we also get to see a
glimpse of maybe the true feelings he has for Catherine.
Eddie’s relationship with Catherine is very significant in the play because it
leads to climax’s later on in the play.

5. RELATIONSHIPS
 RODOLPHO:
When Rodolpho arrives in America, he is very enthusiastic about starting a
new life, however he is some what immature because he tells exaggerated
versions of experiences he’s had to make himself look better and to become
the centre of attention.
Catherine and Rodolpho hit it off from the very beginning. We see this
because she is impressed by the colour of his hair and he welcomes her
comments because he likes being the centre of attention. She also loves his
singing, and again he likes to show himself off by singing for her and the
rest of the family.
Through out the novel Catherine’s relationship with Rodolpho puts strain on
her and Eddie's relationship because of Eddie’s jealousy.

6. KEY SCENES
 SKIRT SCENE:
In this scene Eddie has returned from work and is unhappy
with the length of Catherine’s skirt, claiming it to be ‘too
short, ain’t it?’ he also says it’s ‘giving me the willies’ which
suggests that he treats her like a child and is preventing her
from growing up. It also highlights Catherine's naivety
because she doesn’t know what it’s like to be treated like a
grown. When Catherine says ‘But those guys look at all the
girls’, Eddie says,’ You ain’t ‘all the girls’’, which suggests he
is extremely jealous of the attention Catherine could
receive.

7. KEY SCENES
 PAPER DOLL:
Catherine is very impressed by Rodolpho’s singing during
the Paper Doll scene, and when he has to finish abruptly she
says ‘Let him finish, it’s beautiful! He terrific, it’s terrific
Rodolpho!’ This could have sparked some jealously in Eddie,
suggesting he is extremely protective of her - like in the
scene with Catherine’s skirt earlier on in the play. This is
emphasised at the end of the scene when Eddie’s face is
described as being ‘puffed with trouble’.

8. KEY SCENES
 KISSING SCENE:
This scene is extremely important in the play as this is when Eddie’s
feeling’s finally come out as he kisses Catherine and Rodolpho. It also shows
his jealously as seeing them alone in the house together sparks anger inside
of him, and this is why he lashes out and tells Rodolpho to pack his bags and
leave: ‘Get your stuff and get out of here!’
Catherine says ‘Eddie, I’m not gonna be a baby anymore!’ which would have
angered Eddie even more because he wants her all to himself. In response
Eddie reaches out and kisses her. He also shouts at Rodolpho and kisses him
afterwards.

9. SONG
 PAPER DOLL:
The lyrics through out this song present Catherine as being the ‘doll’
who ‘doesn’t belong’ to Eddie. She is also treated as a ‘doll’ by Eddie as
he tells her how to dress and behave. He is very protective of
her, almost as if he owns her.
Lyrics in the song such as ‘Hey boy, what you gonna do?’ could be
suggesting Rodolpho taunting Eddie just to see how he might react.
The line ‘He’s a flirty flirty guy’ could also be directed at Rodolpho’s
actions towards Catherine