Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat'
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short novel “The Black Cat” the narrator unburdens his soul the night prior to his execution. He begins by describing his amiable and humane nature, and that he from childhood had a strong love for animals. He married at a young age a woman who also loved pets.
Their household had numerous animals and the narrators absolute favorite was a large beautiful black cat, named Pluto after the god of the dead. They had a special bond between them that lasted several years until the man´s character changed due to alcoholism, and he became ill-tempered and abused both wife and pets. Pluto was spared from his harshness, to begin with, but when the man after a drunken night on the town came home to find the cat avoiding him, he lost all control and gouged one of the cat´s eyes out with a pen knife. The cat recovered, but avoided his owner and the narrator ended up hanging the cat from a tree, with tears streaming down his face, aware that he had committed an awful sin on the animal that used to love him.
That very same night he was awakened by his wife’s screaming - the house is on fire. They barely escape and lose all of their wealth and possessions. The next day the man visits the ruins, and on the only wall still standing one can see, to everyone’s amazement, the image of a cat with a noose round its neck.
Soon after, remorse makes the man search for a new animal and he finds a cat almost identical to Pluto. The only difference being a white patch on the new
Analysis Of Pitty Sing By Edgar Allan Poe
231 Words | 1 PagesPluto was the main cat until the midpoint of the story. Poe’s character in the beginning expresses his love for animals, but tells us he has a special place in his heart for Pluto. As his owner slowly swirls down into rage and sorrow he still holds
Edgar Allen Poe: Mentally Insane
1009 Words | 5 PagesIn the Poem “The Black Cat” He says” But my disease grew upon me --for what disease is like Alcohol! --and at length, even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish --even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper”. (Poe 1)
Edgar Allan Poe's Impact On America
1512 Words | 7 PagesThe Black Cat is a short story that shares a tale of a man and his cat, Pluto. The man was once kind and loved animals, but due to a large intake of alcohol, he becomes aggressive towards not only his wife, but Pluto as well. The narrator explains his change of heart by saying, “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence.”
Compare And Contrast The Black Cat And The Cat From Hell
854 Words | 4 PagesIt is also an unusual situation, because in the story, after he hanged the cat and went to sleep, his house suddenly burns out of nowhere (“I was aroused…” | Paragraph 10), and the members of the household, including the man, successfully escaped, and pluto, the cat he hanged, has resurrected into another black cat (“It was a black
Symbolism And Allusion In The Tell-Tale Heart And The Raven
1520 Words | 7 PagesIn “The Raven,” he suggests that the eyes of the Raven symbolize his inner demons, claiming that they stare into his soul and compress his heart with the guilt he carries. This is evident when he describes the raven’s eyes as “fiery eyes [which had] now burned into my bosom’s core” (Poe 74). The eyes of the raven continually haunt the narrator throughout the poem, and since the poem is a projection of Poe’s emotions, it can be understood that Poe sees the eyes as a constant reminder of the burden of grief he has within himself. Similarly, in “The Black Cat,” the narrator of the story becomes angry with his cat, Pluto, and tears out one of his eyes while under the influence of alcohol. He eventually kills his cat, in a fit of rage, and then believes that the cat comes back to haunt him; He encounters a similar cat that bears a strange resemblance to Pluto.
Examples Of Suspense In The Black Cat
532 Words | 3 PagesNext, Poe develops suspense in the black cat through the hanging of Pluto. The narrator is unbalanced and insane, yet hangs Pluto with full intent by the limb of a tree. The narrator states, Quote 1 “hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes with the bitterest remorse at my heart” (Poe 2). The violence that the narrator displays with the hanging of Pluto enroots anxiety for the perusal to know.
Suspense In Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat
483 Words | 2 PagesEarly into the story the wife makes frequent allusion, “all black cats are witches in disguise” (Poe 1), which is a popular ancient notation. This tells the reader that they should be suspicious of Pluto because he could possibly be a witch. When the narrator introduces Pluto to the reader he writes “Pluto—this was the cats name” (Poe 1). In Roman mythology Pluto is the god of the underworld.
Compare And Contrast The Black Cat And The Fall Of The House Of Usher
910 Words | 4 Pages“Pluto – this was the cat’s name – was my favorite pet and playmate” (Poe 520). This man is more violent and he hangs and burns that cat he adored. The narrator is not so lucky though, because another black cat follows and haunts him on his way home. This cat also drives him crazy and he tries to kill the cat but ends up killing his wife instead. The narrator buries his wife in the wall and when the police come looking for her body, the cat helps them find her corpse.
The Misfit Symbolism
851 Words | 4 PagesThe Misfit was a purely evil character while the Grandmother had good intentions. Color symbolism was used throughout the story to give an insight of what is going to happen eventually. The animals also played a large portion of the symbolism attached to… The Misfit along with Hiram and Bobby Lee were all purely evil characters that killed everyone in his way.
The Black Cat Argumentative Essay
647 Words | 3 PagesIn the gruesome short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe a nameless narrator tells his story of his drunken and moody life before he gets hung the next day. The intoxicated narrator kills his favorite cat, Pluto and his wife with an axe. Soon enough, the narrator gets caught and there he ends up, in jail. Although, most readers of “The Black Cat” have argued the narrators insanity, more evidence have shown that he is just a moody alcoholic with a lousy temper.
Theme Of Alcoholism In Edgar Allan Poe
2065 Words | 9 PagesAlcohol is a noteworthy theme throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. This may be because of Poe’s struggle with alcoholism. There are two prominent stories Poe has written with strong themes of alcoholism. These stories are the “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat”. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, alcohol plays a large role in the story.
Similarities Between The Black Cat And The Tell Tale Heart
846 Words | 4 PagesThe narrator got another cat after this and became even more insane in the way he felt about this black cat.
Examples Of Human Nature In The Black Cat
588 Words | 3 PagesEdgar Allan Poe addresses the dark and gruesome side of human nature in his writing “The Black Cat”, which during that time and even now are perceived as radical ideas. This dark human nature is displayed in Poe’s writing as the narrator recalls the happenings of a most erratic event. The narrator, a pet lover with a sweet disposition, in this story succumbs to the most challenging aspects of human nature including that of addiction, anger, and perverseness. To the Christian believer, human’s sinful flesh leads people to do wrong because that is their natural tendency.
The Black Cat Insanity Analysis
717 Words | 3 PagesThe narrator of “The Black Cat” is an alcoholic. By mistreating his pets and wife, he demonstrates how his addiction affects him. Alcoholism itself is an act of insanity because alcoholics see things in an entirely different manner than sober people. The narrator had a sufficient childhood and had a great deal of pets. Once he grew addicted
Violence In Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat
554 Words | 3 PagesHis alcoholism causes him to be abusive and eventually leads him cutting Pluto’s eye out and hanging him. The same night of Pluto’s hanging, the man’s house burns down, where he sees the impression of a giant cat with a noose around his neck on one of the walls of the burnt house. Eventually he gets another black cat with some white fur. He starts to hate this cat, so he also kills it.
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