The Catbird Seat by James Thurber

The protagonist of this story is Erwin Martin, the head of the filing department at F & S. The antagonist is Mrs. Ulgine Barrows, who is the new advisor to the president of the firm. The setting is around the 40's in what seems to be New York City by mentions of "Fifth Avenue" and "Broadway". Martin is a predictable man who does not smoke or drink, very reliable. He is a developing character in how he uses his predictability to his advantage. Barrows is a very load, opinionated women who seems to be a bit arrogant. Martin’s plot to kill her backfires which makes for a better plan to get rid of Barrows. The story is told in third person limited as it tells only what the character knows. The theme would be nothing is what it seems. Martin is this man who could never hurt a fly and he uses this to trick his boss that Barrows is crazy. What is ironic is that he did not even have to bring up the subject. Barrows went to the boss and got herself fired. The roles are switched in this story. Ironic how the woman is the loud mouth hot shot and the man is the laid back worker when it is usually the other way around. Martin was compared to sitting in a catbird seat when he really was, he just had to look pretty and wait for it all to unfold.


This was a funny story. I think it is funny how Erwin was so annoyed by Ulgine that he wanted to kill her. I think that many people, who are so afraid of change, even if it is a small one, are kind of crazy. Any type of situation that is out of the normal might trigger something inside them. I thought it was funny how he was sure of killing her and that he did not even have a weapon, he was going to find something there. It turned out good though, because he did not kill her and he got rid of her in a pretty tricky and smart way. The quite ones are the most conniving ones. That is why you have to watch out for them.