Examples Of Human Nature In The Black Cat

Edgar 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 same idea is present in Poe’s writing as the narrator gives in to his own perverseness. In this section of the story, the narrator thus far has stabbed out the eye of his beloved cat, Pluto. The narrator continues, saying, “Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not?” (Poe, 2) Here, the narrator is trying to justify what he has done to his cat, while also pointing out his own tendency as a human to do what is wrong just because he knows it to be wrong. This challenges the reader to think of their own human nature, which has most likely taken over their responses to

In the story, the narrator becomes addicted to alcohol, causing his many violent acts. He describes it as a disease that, “...grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!—even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.” (Poe, 2) Addiction is most likely one of the most dangerous of human nature because it can consume your life. Poe even includes that the narrator’s, “...original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” (Poe, 2) Poe takes this idea to an extreme, but brings the attention to the detrimental effects of letting any one thing have too much possession of your