I say! Isn't this lovely?

"In her relationship with cats, Emily offers an alternative model of parenting to the one she herself experiences. Framing herself as a surrogate parent to her cats, Emily identifies “proudly” as having “brought them up herself.” Yet when Emily explains to Ellen that a “living present is so nice … because it keeps on getting nicer all the time,” she is recognizing the dynamic nature of the animal rather than her own authority over it.39 The feline companion’s capacity to “[keep] on getting nicer all the time” is disconnected from the rhetoric of the education of children, the training of pets, or the manicuring of nature into elaborate formal gardens; rather than focusing upon improving or altering natural behaviours, Emily’s observation offers a tacit acknowledgement of the individual animal’s dynamic nature revealing itself across time to the sympathetic human caregiver. Yi-Fu Tuan argues that the transformation of an animal into a pet through “successful training” is necessarily a “harsh” story of power that acts “against the victim’s own strong desires and nature.”40 In contrast to her Murray relatives, Emily presents herself as a parent uninterested in the exercise of power over another being. As an observer-parent, Emily recognizes the uniqueness of her animal companions and attends to their differences with respectful affection. Emily individualizes her cats, identifying them as unique and discrete beings: the acknowledged “favourite,” Mike, endears himself with his sweet ways, while Saucy Sal, a creature of “weird beauty,” is a “redoubtable fighter” who “vanquish[es]” other cats and dogs with “fearless[ness].”41 The names of both cats take the form of cozy, familiar nicknames emphasizing their emplacement within the fond, affectionate structure of the Starr household; however, Saucy Sal’s name, with its accompanying adjective, evokes feminine boldness, liveliness, and perhaps even irreverence. Their distinct names, personalities, and mannerisms emphasize the quiddity of each feline companion. Emily accepts rather than seeks to mould their nature and, in so doing, models an alternative mode of parenting that replaces the privileging of being good with the freedom of being oneself."

~ Daniella Janes

"A Cat of One’s Own: The Woman Writer and the Feline Companion in Emily of New Moon"

https://journaloflmmontgomerystudies.ca/vision/Janes/A-Cat-of-Ones-Own-The-Woman-Writer-and-the-Feline-Companion-in-Emily-of-New-Moon