Book Review of The Cat Who Went To Heaven

The book “The Cat Who Went To Heaven” written by Elizabeth Coatsworth talks about a painter and the unexpected arrival of a cat in Japan. The poor painter needed food so he gave money to the housekeeper. But the housekeeper brought back a cat from the market. At first, the painter was angry and viewed the cat as devils because of the disrespectful actions and rebellious attitudes the cat had toward the Buddha. Later the painter noticed the cat has three colors, which he thinks is lucky; therefore, the painter named the cat Good Fortune. Slowly, the painter began to be more fond of Good Fortune. Once Good fortune was hungry catching a small bird. Interestingly, Good Fortune released the bird rather than eat it. The painter was wondering about the unusual behavior of the cat. One day the priest came and asked the painter to draw a picture of Buddha and the animals Buddha had blessed and sent to heaven. The artist first imagined how Buddha should look through medication. Then he started drawing Buddha and animals of snails, lions, bears, birds, and elephants. But the painter never drew a cat in the painting. Because Good Fortune has had mercy toward the small bird previously, the painter feels compassion for Good Fortune and paints the cat in the painting. Good Fortune died after the drawing because the cat was too happy to live another minute. The painting was then sent to the temple, but the priest refused to take it and ordered it to burn. The next day, the miracle happened! In the painting, Buddha petted the little white cat's head, suggesting that Buddha already forgave the cat and the cat was receiving the blessing from Buddha. To have a comprehensive understanding about the story, there is a need to look at the changes in three main characters: the painter, the cat Good Fortune, and Buddha. 

The painter portrays the cat Good fortune with compassion and mercy through drawing her on painting, aiming to alter people’s perceptions of the cat's disrespectful actions and rebellious attitudes toward the Buddha. Compassion means the capability to be aware of, empathize with , and show concern for someone who is suffering. It involves showing support, understanding, and kindness toward this person according to what he needs. Previously, the painter did not want to paint the cat in the picture because of the cat’s inappropriate behaviors and attitudes toward the Buddha. However, due to the cat’s kindness by not eating the small bird and releasing it, now the painter’s compassion was triggered and changed his mind to paint the cat. At the beginning, the painter just wanted to get a great deal of compensation from the priest once finishing the painting of Buddha. Through medication about the Buddha’s previous lives of ape, the painter realized the true meaning of compassion and mercy. He then knew what they actually meant. Then the artist showed compassion to the cat Good Fortune by drawing her on the painting of Buddha. He empathized with the cat's sad feelings of no representative for the cat in the painting. Even though the painter was aware that drawing the cat in the painting of Buddha would definitely make the priests angry, he still showed compassion to the cat Good Fortune to make it happy. He was willing to sacrifice an opportunity of making the big money just for making the cat Good Fortune happy. The painter hoped that people could change their viewpoints about the cat. Showing mercy and compassion means that people will think about others and feel what others are suffering, sometimes even sacrificing themselves to help others. 

The cat demonstrates redemption by transforming herself from being disrespectful to being subservient toward Buddha, which would allow the cat to go to heaven. Redemption is the act of making amends for previous mistakes. It involves a process of personal growth through self-reflection as well as doing things to make up for past wrongdoings to seek forgiveness. Previously, the cat legend showed her disrespectful rebellion against Buddha. But throughout the story, the cat Good Fortune kept doing many good things. When the cat caught a bird, she let the bird fly away even though she was hungry. The cat prayed to the Buddha. The cat did not want to make a burden on the poor painter so she ate little. The painter was touched and drew her in the painting. In the painting, the cat was tamed, showing the cat now is respectful toward Buddha. One old Chinese saying “Put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha”. This saying suggests that one could be as good as Buddha if he or she is willing to stop killing animals or people. Previously, the cat couldn't go to heaven because she was disrespectful toward Buddha. The cat Good fortune wanted to go to heaven so she started to make the redemption. She stops showing his rebellion toward the Buddha. Instead, started to show his respectful attitudes toward the Buddha. The cat chose to stop her previous evil actions and she did the right things. Even though she really wanted to do something bad, she still resists herself from doing it to get her bad habits away. The cat really forced herself to make the change, which opened her the door to heaven. Redemption makes people who did bad things redo what wrong they already did before in the past and rethink about what they are going to do.

Buddha shows forgiveness to the cat by blessing her despite her previous disrespect towards him. Forgiveness is the conscious decision of releasing hatred, resentment, anger, or revenge against someone who has done harm to you, even if he does not deserve it. It involves changing the feelings, attitudes, and behaviors so people can develop compassion and understanding toward someone who has wronged you. Previously Buddha seemed not to be blessing the cat. People think the cat was evil because it was holding disrespectful actions and rebellious attitudes toward Buddha. After Buddha recognized the cat Good Fortune’s action of praying and helping others, Buddha was impressed and touched, and then chose to bless her. Now everyone thinks the cat has changed for good. Buddha in the past did not give his blessing to the cat as a punishment for her rebellion against Buddha; as a result, the cat cannot go to heaven. The cat, Good Fortune realized what she did toward Buddha previously was wrong. The cat made the redemption, trying to make up for her previous mistakes. Buddha noticed that Good Fortune had changed, making and doing good things. This proves that the cat Good fortune was not the cat that everyone thinks she was. Buddha then showed the cat his forgiveness by giving her the blessing. The cat bowed respectfully in return. Giving forgiveness through releasing the feeling of being angry to people who have done harm to you provides them the second chance to do something better.

The story, “The Cat That Went To Heaven” is not a hard book, yet it holds a lot of meaning in it, teaching readers some valuable lessons that cannot be learned from a school setting. The author conveys three main points, including Mercy and Compassion, Redemption, and Forgiveness. Everyone, no exception, makes mistakes, no matter big or small. When the individual recognizes his own mistakes, tries to do something good away from something bad, and makes up for the person whom he has harmed, this is exactly the redemption that comes into play. It might seem very difficult to give forgiveness to the person who has harmed you, especially if this person did an inerasable terrible hurting to you. But without forgiveness, the person would live in the cycle of pain and hatred, which would enlarge the sadness and anger. The action of forgiveness not only gives the bad person the second chance to become better, but also shows the individual has compassion and mercy toward the bad person.