Cats

Cats are both an object of fear and a proposed test of Roy Laferty’s claimed power to bring the dead back to life. After years in which Roy and Theodore Daniels had killed dozens of cats, Roy suggests killing one and attempting to revive it, hoping the result will convince Theodore that his belief is real.

Fear and Past Treatment

Cats rank among Roy’s greatest fears, second only to spiders. His fear is connected to a story his mother had told him: she claimed that, when Roy was a baby, she caught a cat trying to suck his breath away. The account is presented as his mother’s claim, not as a confirmed event.

Roy and Theodore had nevertheless killed dozens of cats over the years. This history makes Roy’s plan to use another cat as a test especially stark: an animal associated with his earliest fear becomes an instrument in his effort to establish the truth of his supposed ability.

Proposed Test of Resurrection

When Theodore doubts Roy’s claim, Roy paces and proposes that they kill a cat so he can demonstrate that he can bring it back. Theodore dismisses the proposal as insufficient to persuade him, leaving the cat test unresolved. The scene establishes that Roy wants proof, but it does not show him carrying out the proposed experiment.

Theodore then shifts the challenge from a cat to Helen, who is outside with the baby. Roy resists the suggestion, recalls the voice of God he had heard in the closet, and considers whether Helen’s being right with the Lord might help a resurrection. Even so, he says he would prefer to try the idea on a cat first. The animal thus remains a contemplated preliminary test, while the conversation raises the stakes toward Roy’s wife.