Cat Person Summary
Roupenian, Kristen

Cat Person Overview

Kristen Roupenian's short story "Cat Person" was first published in the December 4th, 2017 issue of The New Yorker. Shortly after publication, the story went viral and caused a rare kind of literary sensation, in part due to its timeliness in conjunction with the Me Too movement. Roupenian very quickly signed a two-book, seven-figure deal with a publisher and her collection of short stories entitled You Know You Want This was published soon after. "Cat Person," one of the collection's short stories, focuses on a college sophomore named Margot and her brief, largely unpleasant dalliance with a man in his mid-thirties named Robert, whom she meets when he patronizes the art house movie theater where she works. In her story, Roupenian asks the reader to explore issues such as the nature of consent and the ways in which gender norms govern our behavior, often to our collective detriment.