This book was inspired by the Vietnam War and the actions behind it. Many actions of the Vietnam War were portrayed in the book. The cat, Franklin, represents South Vietnam because he was out of the street without any support. The cat represents South Vietnam because the cat retaliates after the cat slows down and get sad on the page before the cat scratches Lyndon. The parents represent Congress. Lyndon had to get permission from the parents to keep the cat, along with consulting with them about leaving the cat at the neighbor’s house. This had happened during the war in the case of the Paris Peace accords, in which America made a treaty with North Vietnam to let all the prisoners of war go in return America would leave Vietnam and leave the war. The Vietnam War is represented by the conflicts surrounding Franklin the cat. When Franklin first got the cat, he took care of it, but it was a lot more difficult than he had expected, much like how when the U.S. had gotten involved in the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese were a much greater challenge than previously thought. Just when everything seems to calm down and Lyndon is getting used to taking care of the cat, the cat scratches him. This is used to represent the way that when the war is winding down, and and the U.S. was beginning to have more hope for winning, the Tet offensive, which is the devastating surprise attack that North Vietnam pulled on the U.S., happened and we were forced to at last leave the war and give up on South Vietnam, same as what had happened to Lyndon when he was scratched, and had to give his cat away to his neighbor. The neighbor's house represents communism, because when the U.S. had left the war, South Vietnam lost, and became a unified communist state, and surprisingly, improved relations with the U.S. afterwards.