The Catbird Seat is a humorous short story by James Thurber about a clerk, Mr Martin, who plans to get rid of an obnoxious colleague, Mrs Barrows. Martin turns the tables on her by using baseball broadcaster Red Barber’s expressions against her, leading to her being sent to an asylum. The story draws on real events and highlights the use of idiomatic expressions.
The Catbird Seat is a short story by James Thurber. It describes the efforts of a clerk, Mr Martin, to get rid of an obnoxious clerk named Mrs. Ulgine Barrows. She is constantly “reorganizing” Mr. Martin’s office, and Martin knows that he is next to be reorganized and possibly fired.
Mr. Martin is rather effeminate and rather fussy. He has a reputation for avoiding smoking and drinking, so his personality immediately clashes with Mrs. Barrows, who has a “raying” laugh and is prone to using expressions, such as “sitting on the bird seat.” As Thurber explains, these expressions are taken from the very famous and real baseball broadcaster Red Barber. Barber was a native Mississippian who used a number of metaphors to describe the state of players in a game. “Sit on the catbird seat,” “tear off the bit of the pea,” and “scrape the bottom of the pickle barrel” were some of the classic expressions of him.
There is an interesting fact about Barber’s most famous expression “sitting in the catbird seat.” This means an enviable position, and specifically a hitter at the plate with three balls and no strikes. According to Barber’s daughter, she never used the expression until after Thurber wrote her account. After reading The Catbird Seat, Barber has used the expression often and with great pride. A mention of Thurber was a gesture of great respect.
For Mr. Martin, Mrs. Barrows’ frequent bellows about Barber’s idiom are enough to want to “erase” it. While Martin intends before her to kill Mrs. Barrows, he soon finds a way to turn his own use of the idiom against her and triumph over her. She visits her at his house, and as they share drinks and smoke, he uses some of Barber’s expressions, eventually gleefully stating that he plans to kill their mutual leader.
Because of her reputation for exemplary behaviour, prior to her bold statements to Mrs Barrows, and because of Mrs Barrows’ frequent use of Barber’s expressions, her accusation of Mr Martin’s plans to kill the boss is considered insane. His description of both Martin’s behavior and his language is completely disconnected from the mild-mannered Mr. Martin met in the office. Mrs Barrows is transported to an asylum and Martin finds himself in the place of a cat at the end of the story, having every advantage and a sense of satisfaction that his position is now unassailable.
As a short story, The Catbird Seat is probably one of Thurber’s funniest. Like much of Thurber’s work, it draws on real events, such as the mention of Barber, and the more frequent employment of women in higher positions of authority, in order to create a highly fantastical and comedic ending. Mrs Barrows is clearly a caricature of the ‘modern’ woman, in contrast to the mild-mannered Mr Martin.
The urbane and cultured Thurber also uses the story to get a quick glimpse into the relative lack of manners that results in idiomatic expressions. It is therefore a bit ironic that Thurber is often associated with one of them. The Catbird Seat, which probably includes Thurber’s inventive idiom for his tale, is often one of his most relatable works of his.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
