What does おとなしく見える mean in this sentence?


借りてきた猫のようにおとなしく見えても、実は猫をかぶっているだけかも。

Without the おとなしく I understand the first half of sentence as meaning, "Looks
like a cat that was borrowed". But I'm not sure what additional information
the おとなしく is providing.




おとなしく見える means "looks docile", and nothing more. Actually this is the easiest
part of the sentence, and I'm wondering why you're asking about it
specifically. Do you understand
[借りてきた猫](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%80%9F%E3%82%8A%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8D%E3%81%9F%E7%8C%AB)
and [猫を被る](https://jisho.org/search/%E7%8C%AB%E3%82%92%E8%A2%AB%E3%82%8B) are
both idioms with fixed meanings? Or maybe have you temporarily forgotten [見える
takes a ku-
form](https://www.kanshudo.com/grammar/%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B)?

> 借りてきた猫のようにおとなしく見えても、実は猫をかぶっているだけかも。  
>  Even if they look docile like a borrowed cat, they may actually be
> pretending to be harmless.




おとなしく見える means "looks docile", and nothing more. Actually this is the easiest
part of the sentence, and I'm wondering why you're asking about it
specifically. Do you understand
[借りてきた猫](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%80%9F%E3%82%8A%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8D%E3%81%9F%E7%8C%AB)
and [猫を被る](https://jisho.org/search/%E7%8C%AB%E3%82%92%E8%A2%AB%E3%82%8B) are
both idioms with fixed meanings? Or maybe have you temporarily forgotten [見える
takes a ku-
form](https://www.kanshudo.com/grammar/%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B)?

> 借りてきた猫のようにおとなしく見えても、実は猫をかぶっているだけかも。  
>  Even if they look docile like a borrowed cat, they may actually be
> pretending to be harmless.

