Chaos Vs. Order

Chaos Vs. Order

The short story by James Thurber, "The Catbird Seat", describes a man, Mr.

Erwin Martin, who is very precise and logical in everything he does including his job and

how he reacts when his order is disrupted by a loud, meddlesome woman, Mrs. Ulgine

Barrows, who has much persuasion with the company president, Mr. Fitweiler. Mr.

Martin’s order is disrupted by this chaos in the company and he can not have it so he

decides he must kill Mrs. Barrows to get things back the way they were. The theme of

the story is the battle for favorable position or to sit "in the catbird seat" and if one stays

calm and keeps themselves in order they can eventually win over the chaos in their life.

In the story Mr. Martin is the character who epitomizes order. He was very organized and kept a strict schedule. He arrived at work every day at eight thirty and walked home at five thirty, he ate dinner at Schraft’s every night at eight, then took a walk and usually was in bed around eleven. He was described as "neat, quiet, attentive" and coworkers described him as "infallible" and "the most efficient worker." His job at F & S was as head of the filing department. His very job deals with keeping things organized. He also was said to have never drank anything stronger than ginger ale and never smoked in his life. This also represents perfection. He views Mrs. Barrows not as a person but as a "mistake" made by his boss, Mr. Fitweiler. He decides he must "rub out" ...

Chaos Vs. Order

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