Why does Anne Serre use a leopard-skin hat as the book’s title?

I’ve read 60 pages out of the book’s 120 pages and I’ve yet to discover why. One of the reasons could be that because the hat is a stolen one. I better list down the reasons.

1. Anne Serre names her novella after a Leopard-Skin Hat, because the hat is conspicuously a red herring.

2. What’s the red herring? It is a clue that something is wrong with the protagonist, who can afford to buy the hat, but she pilfers it anyway. The thief is not Fanny, but another persoality residing in Fanny. That Fanny is different – labeled as Fanny B. This Fanny is not a habitual thief nor compulsive stealing kleptomaniac. It was written Fanny B stole a leopard-skin hat. So far, by page 60, Fanny B has not been attributed as having stolen anything else. Naming the story as A Leopard-Skin Hat is drawing attention to Fanny B, who is a personality inside Fanny. The theft is not as important as the multiple personalities of Fanny. Fanny B is a young blonde woman with curly hair in ringlets. As a matter of fact, many young girls had their hair curled into ringlets. That was a popular style made trendy by the child actress Shirley Temple. After she grew up, she married a man with the surname Black and became known as Shirley Temple Black.

3. A leopard skin hat is difficult to match with clothes. The spots are outstanding. The wearer of this hat should not be using patterned clothes and the prints would clash with the leopard skin spots.

4. Readers are told that Fanny likes the leopard-skin hat too. This is emphasized to show the two Fannys share the common taste for leopard-skin.

Why did Fanny die?

On page 35, we read that Fanny sometimes got drunk and would be transported away by persons whom she could not remember after the event. She didn’t remember if she was molested or raped. She also expressed that she didn’t care what had happened to her.

From page 40 onwards, readers learn that Fanny did not take care of her health. She didn’t care about her body. She laughed when other people made fuss about taking care of appropriate clothing and the like, because she didn’t think it was necessary to take such care.

On page 49, we learn that Fanny sometimes landed in hospital and would give the Narrator’s telephone number, to be contacted, so that he would come and take care of her.

Fanny may have premonitions of her ill health and impending consequences. We read that a few months before the month of March, she started to take care of her physical body. maybe Serre wanted us to know that it was too late.

Why did the author tell readers about Fanny’s death early in the book?

Very early in the story, Serre told about Fanny’s death at the age of 43 years old. The author did not name the year, but noted that the month was March, when Fanny passed away.

Some writers use the literary device of creating sympathy and empathy for the protagonist or other characters, by informing the readers certain information, so that there would be pity and interest for the character.

Fanny was a lost person. She was tempted by alcohol, her pride and other personal issues. Many of us suffer from these problems, circumstances and issues too. We can learn about ourselves, by reading books on people.

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This is my copy of A Leopard-Skin Hat. The publisher is “A New Directions Paperbook Original” (2023). The page numbers mentioned are from this 2023 edition of the title. The book was first published in 1958 and translated by Mark Hutchinson into English, in 2023. I read the book in its English translation.

The book cover design is of leopard spots, drawn to resemble the side profile of a woman.