User blog:Ailurafey/The Kittens

The Kittens are what the ensemble of young and immature females are known as. The group covers Victoria, the eldest, who is ready to leave the Kittens, Etcetera the ADHD Cat (just a head canon) Electra, of whom little is known about, and Jemima, the youngest. Allow me to use my head canons and various facts to explain the roles of these Kittens.

to begin, the Kittens are regarded as a single group, and they do not look like siblings. In many stray cat populations, the kittens of the alley are usually looked after by many different moms. Therefore I believe that the mature Jellicles all have the responsibility to look after them regardlesss of their actual parents.

Victoria the White Cat: Victoria is a cat who is well-loved. As a deaf kitten, she is looked after by her mate/helper Mistoffelees. It is my belief that she used to have a wealthy owner as an infant, but when they attempted to sell her at a young age she got lost. Being deaf, she couldn’t understand the world around her. If it weren’t for Munkustrap she’d be either dead or under the influence of Macavity, who frequently preys on lonely cats. There is more to Victoria than her disability, though. It is a popular head canon that she was chosen to be the mother to whatever cat is chosen to be reborn. Her puberty dance, advancing maturity, mating dance, and eventual acceptance of Grizabella are seen as steps on her journey to becoming an adult. This means that by the design of the Heaviside Layer, Victoria is now the mother of Grizabella.

Etcetera: many believe this kitten to have ADHD or autism because of her “stimming” movements. As an autistic myself, I support this. However, who were her parents? What is her relation to the rest of the Jellicles? For starters, let’s take a look at her name. Etcetera is a Latin word that describes the miscellaneous, unmentioned things at the end of the sentence. Therefore we can deduce that Etcetera was probably once regarded as just a nameless entity to be put at the end of a sentence and not talked about. Suggesting perhaps a lot of siblings. My head canon is that Grizabella is her mother, who in her promiscuity gave birth to so many kittens that the little eccentric child was left nameless. Perhaps Grizabella, when asked about her offspring, offhandedly and disdainfully rattled off a vague list of about three kittens, and ending the slits there with “etcetera, etcetera.” This meant that when the Jellicles picked her up from whatever gutter she was left in, Etcetera had no name to call herself by. She chose the name “Etcetera” to show herself as unashamed of her initial abandonment. However, the memory still hurts her.

Electra: Little is known about this minor character. We see her as a more daring kitten than Jemima and Victoria, but more reserved than Etcetera. She is also the cat who was encouraged to switch places with Cassandra by Rumpelteazer in the Skimbleshanks song, who Skimbleshanks also gave a short glare to. So what can we gather from this timid individual? Perhaps We can agree that maybe Electra was once in a better childhood than that of Victoria and Etcetera. Electra, possibly, is the daughter of Skimbleshanks and Jennyanydots. She got her daring from Skimble and her humility from Jenny, and was raised with the other kittens.

Jemima the Oracle Cat (as I call her): Jemima (or Sillabub) is a scruffy kitten with wide eyes who plays a part in Grizabella’s redemption. She sings a reprise of Memory called Moonlight, and a small part of Grizabella’s full version of Memory. Most fans can agree that Jemima has a spiritual connection to the Heaviside Layer. Where do we start with this? Let’s consider her parents. To support my head canon of Jemima having mystical powers, I say that Jemima is the daughter of Demeter’s abusive relationship with Macavity the Mystery Cat. Macavity, along with the Rum Tum Tugger and Munkustrap, is the son of Old Deuteronomy, the Jesus of the Jellicles. Not to mention Macavity’s magical, devilish powers. Jemima’s alternative name, “ Sillabub” derived from the old name for the Devil, Beelzebub. Maybe Macavity had given her this name when she was born. Eventually Bombalurina and Demeter fled Macavity’s network with the small kitten, and raised her with the Jellicles. Now that her parentage is cleared up, we are now allowed to talk about the context of her “Delphic Oracle” powers. During Old Deuteronomy’s song, “ The Moments of Happiness”, he tries to relay the message of Grizabella’s sorrow to the other cats, but they don’t understand. Coricopat and Tantomile, the psychic twins, have to use their powers to channel Deuteronomy ’s message into Jemima, who explains it in a simpler, more moving fashion.

Moonlight, turn your face to the moonlight

Let your memory lead you

open up, enter in.

if you find there the meaning of what happiness is

Then a new life will begin

I rest my case