“the Black Cat” Edgar Allan Poe
“The Black Cat” Edgar Allan Poe 1. From what point of view is Poe’s story told and why is the view particularly effective for this story?
From reading the short story it is apparent that this is a first person narration. You feel the emotions and the events of the story, but some of the stories sound crazy that it makes you feel like the story is being told by an insane or mentally ill individual. “The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket” (2-3). The first person view is effective because it gives you a feel of what he was thinking during those cruel moments. 2. Explain how the reader knows the narrator is an unreliable narrator?
The reader can believe that the narrator is unreliable because the narrator is mentally insane and unstable. In the beginning he talks about superstition, he mentions not being mad man. He mentions being tenderhearted and loving and his fondness of animals. Then he switches his feeling and hatred for the second cat which in the end led to him murdering his wife. 3. The murderer takes great precautions to commit the perfect crime. What trips him up? Explain.
The narrator took great precautions in covering the murder of his wife, however, it appears that the guilt of murdering his wife got to him which led him to confess to his crime. As days went by after the murder, he felt closer to being a free man and getting away with the perfect cover up. “The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme!” (6) By the fourth day when the police
From reading the short story it is apparent that this is a first person narration. You feel the emotions and the events of the story, but some of the stories sound crazy that it makes you feel like the story is being told by an insane or mentally ill individual. “The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket” (2-3). The first person view is effective because it gives you a feel of what he was thinking during those cruel moments. 2. Explain how the reader knows the narrator is an unreliable narrator?
The reader can believe that the narrator is unreliable because the narrator is mentally insane and unstable. In the beginning he talks about superstition, he mentions not being mad man. He mentions being tenderhearted and loving and his fondness of animals. Then he switches his feeling and hatred for the second cat which in the end led to him murdering his wife. 3. The murderer takes great precautions to commit the perfect crime. What trips him up? Explain.
The narrator took great precautions in covering the murder of his wife, however, it appears that the guilt of murdering his wife got to him which led him to confess to his crime. As days went by after the murder, he felt closer to being a free man and getting away with the perfect cover up. “The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme!” (6) By the fourth day when the police