Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat
The Black Cat
Because he is due to die the next day, the narrator has decided to present the facts of a past event that has terrified and destroyed him, although he claims that he is not mad and hopes that someone else will be able to explain his story logically. He begins by describing his kind and humane younger self: he keeps many pets because animals such as dogs are so loving and faithful, and at a young age he marries a woman who also loves pets. In their household they have a number of animals, including a large and beautiful black cat named Pluto. Although his wife often refers to the superstition that black cats are actually disguised witches, the narrator is particularly fond of the unusually intelligent cat.
In subsequent years, …show more content…
Pluto's possible magical significance is first noted by the wife, who states that black cats are said to be witches in disguise, although her kind treatment of Pluto indicates that she does not put much faith in this particular superstition. The narrator explicitly dismisses this viewpoint, but the superstition flavors his entire story. When he observes the image of the cat on the wall, he describes it as gigantic; he previously described Pluto as fairly large, but whether the size of the image is an expression of the paranormal or simply a product of his frightened imagination is difficult to say. Similarly, the narrator claims that the patch of fur on the cat transforms from an "indefinite splotch" to the specific image of the gallows, but we have no evidence that the narrator is observing anything more than the twisting of his own …show more content…
He is particularly careful to explain how perversity drives him to hang his cat Pluto, and at the time, he understands the evil of his crime and even feels some measure of guilt over it. The sign of his decreasing sanity comes as much from his lack of guilt over killing his wife as it does from the actual act of burying his axe in her skull. His explanation that perverseness is "one of the primitive impulses of the human heart" is called into question because of his madness, but at the same time, the story makes us wonder about the truth of his assertion. On the one hand, perverseness might seem natural to the narrator precisely because he was already prone to it, despite what he claims was his previously innocent personality. On the other hand, perhaps he is correct in that perversity exists in all men but is merely aggravated in
Because he is due to die the next day, the narrator has decided to present the facts of a past event that has terrified and destroyed him, although he claims that he is not mad and hopes that someone else will be able to explain his story logically. He begins by describing his kind and humane younger self: he keeps many pets because animals such as dogs are so loving and faithful, and at a young age he marries a woman who also loves pets. In their household they have a number of animals, including a large and beautiful black cat named Pluto. Although his wife often refers to the superstition that black cats are actually disguised witches, the narrator is particularly fond of the unusually intelligent cat.
In subsequent years, …show more content…
Pluto's possible magical significance is first noted by the wife, who states that black cats are said to be witches in disguise, although her kind treatment of Pluto indicates that she does not put much faith in this particular superstition. The narrator explicitly dismisses this viewpoint, but the superstition flavors his entire story. When he observes the image of the cat on the wall, he describes it as gigantic; he previously described Pluto as fairly large, but whether the size of the image is an expression of the paranormal or simply a product of his frightened imagination is difficult to say. Similarly, the narrator claims that the patch of fur on the cat transforms from an "indefinite splotch" to the specific image of the gallows, but we have no evidence that the narrator is observing anything more than the twisting of his own …show more content…
He is particularly careful to explain how perversity drives him to hang his cat Pluto, and at the time, he understands the evil of his crime and even feels some measure of guilt over it. The sign of his decreasing sanity comes as much from his lack of guilt over killing his wife as it does from the actual act of burying his axe in her skull. His explanation that perverseness is "one of the primitive impulses of the human heart" is called into question because of his madness, but at the same time, the story makes us wonder about the truth of his assertion. On the one hand, perverseness might seem natural to the narrator precisely because he was already prone to it, despite what he claims was his previously innocent personality. On the other hand, perhaps he is correct in that perversity exists in all men but is merely aggravated in