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To What Extent Is The Narrator Insane In The Black Cat

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To What Extent Is The Narrator Insane In The Black Cat
In the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator commits several terrible crimes. He is writing from a prison cell before he will be hung. He is an alcoholic who loves animals but during a drunken rage he harms his cat and then when he is sober again he kills it. He gets another cat, and he tries to kill it but he kills his wife instead. The police find her body and he is arrested for murder. But, the narrator is insane and cannot control his actions due to alcohol, grief, and a possible mental illness, so he is not guilty.

The narrator says a few alarming things that contribute to the idea of him being insane. “Beneath the pressure of torments such as these the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts
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