I really hope that this particular link to an article of the TIME magazine can serve as an outline of our project, or as a frame so to say.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953776,00.html

as we haven't yet named straightaway the reasons for being outcasts of our characters, this article can be of some help.
for me personally, was the following link of much help. And although it requires money to be paid, still it gives some hints and food for thought.
http://www.enotes.com/cat-hot/