The Cat Who Thought She was a Dog and the Dog Who Thought He Was a Cat

By: Isaac Bashevis Singer

Essential Question:

How do personal experiences effect what we write as authors?

Meet the AuthorIssac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991)

As a boy in Poland, Issac Bashevis Singer became fascinated with real-life stories he witnessed in he father’s “courtroom”. His father was neither a lawyer nor a judge. The man was a rabbi, a Jewish religious leader, who settled disputes among the poor Jews of Warsaw, Poland’s capital.

The Writer As JudgeLater, as a writer, Singer would settle the problems of his own made-up characters.

Far And Not So FarSinger came to the United States

in 1935.He became famous for his novels

and stories.Eventually he won the Nobel Prize

for Literature.The stories that won him such a

wide audience were often based on what he heard and saw as a boy.

The Story Behind The Story

As a religious Jew, Singer’s father believed that people should not take pride in their appearance.

It is likely that he banned or limited the use of mirrors in his household.

You see the influence of this attitude in the story.

Vocabulary Word BankEnthralled –v: Fascinated; charmedProtruded –v: stuck out; extendedConsole –v: comfort; make less sadAfflicted –v: received pain or

sufferingVanity –n: the quality of being very

proud of one’s appearance

Prefixes: pro- In this story you met a character

whose teeth protruded. The prefix pro- can mean “forward or before in place or time, or in front of’, and the word part –trude means “to jut out”. Teeth that protrude jut out in front of your lip.

Homework