...Edgar Allen Poe’s The Black Cat, much like many of his other stories, is a tale of inexplicable violence and perverseness, and yet it is an amazing insight into the mind’s ability to observe itself and even give itself away, as evidenced in end of the tale of the narrator. Indeed, even the narrator himself is aware of this fact that he is going insane somehow, and even with this knowledge and the knowledge that he continues to proceed in his insanity it’s not enough to stop his descent. The narrator takes time and details each aspect of his madness, in a sense observing his actions from a detached perspective, even though the story is written in the first person, like a psychiatrist. There is however a tinge of awareness and perhaps some sense of guilt in how the narrator conveys the story. Much of his actions make no sense and seem to have no logical intent, and perhaps that is what Poe tries to convey when the narrator describes and his actions in the word, “PERVERSENESS.” One interesting note is that the narrator defends himself in the very beginning with “Yet, mad am I not—” and yet he begins to logically process his reactions with, “have terrified — have tortured — have destroyed me.” Thus, in the very act of saying he isn’t mad, and then by logically outlining his guilt, he shows his own descent into madness and his objectivity throughout the process, questioning whether the narrator feels guilty at all or not. After The Black Cat begins with the narrator’s description...
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...associated black cats with superstition. Historically, in the US but also in UK, black cats were associated with witchcraft and evil. Black cat was sign of poverty in China, in Europe is bad luck to have a black cat cross your path. In Canada, bans on the adoption of black cats on Halloween were common until a few years ago. But, is some cultures, black cats they were celebrated and seen as a sign of good luck. In UK, Japan and Australia it is quite the opposite: black cat is a sign of good fortune and good luck. For 19th century sailors black cats were kept on ships as they believed it would bring them luck. Fisherman’s wives would keep black cats while their husbands were away to sea, believing they...
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...On top of that, the main character of “The Black Cat” provides several reasons for his abnormal behaviors which ultimately indicates his insanity. The narrator once who was kind becomes abusive and violent due to alcoholism: “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others” (6), and he kills his pet Pluto. I think that the narrator is also obsessed with Pluto’s eyes just like the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is into the old man’s eyes. This is because the narrator’s cruelty and violence has been witnessed by Pluto, his eyes, and he cannot stand it. Moreover, ironically, the narrator tries to escape from his guilt by killing Pluto, and this clearly shows that he has some mental issues. The narrator...
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...and saw figure of a black cat. “Pluto? Is that you?” I mumbled toward it. Then it was like a shine ray directed toward the object, it revealed Pluto. It was really Pluto then I saw Pluto’s red eyes shine. I became scared and ran away from it. Pluto walked closer towards me. The cat looks so scary with the red eyes and blood non-stop flowed out from the cat’s eyes. Did Pluto cries? But why the tears turned to blood? ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- How far you could run in just a square room cell? Wherever I ran, Pluto still walked towards me and it getting closer. I gave up when I felt tired and stood still at the corner of the room. The cold wind blew in made me shivered in fright. Pluto walked closer towards me and rubbed his body at my legs. I thought Pluto wanted to claim what I did towards him. I felt touched with his actions. Pluto still knew his master and did his job to accompany me when I felt like being alone. Indeed I am alone without anyone in the room. How could I be cruel to him? Although I had killed him but he is still kind toward me? Picture 2 ------------------------------------------------- Then I thought of something. I had killed Pluto then how could Pluto appear in front of me? This is so confusing. Then I saw a white hair area at his body, it was the cat in my new housing area last time. “You aren’t Pluto!” shouted him and kicked the cat away from him. The cat that had been kicked...
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...Poe, “The Black Cat” (1843) The second black cat, which came into the picture after the murder of the first black cat, was most likely a projection of the man’s imagination because he felt guilty for killing the first innocent animal. The first cat was all black, while the second cat had a distinct white pattern on a part of it’s body. Black has been known to be associated with power, sophistication, mystery, and seriousness, and also has superstitious qualities when seen on cats. White, however, is associated with pureness, innocence, goodness, cleanness, and peacefulness. Since this is a figment of the main characters imagination, the two cats are most likely one in the same in the character’s mind, the white spot most likely marks the second...
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...In Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Black Cat," the theme of the story was that he was feeling hatred towards his cats. The narrator of the story was having problems with his temper towards his cat. In this story, he started explaining what was happening to him before the incidents with the cats. He had said, "I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others" (Poe). The narrator of the story was beginning to get more irritated with the car as time had went on, and it shown by the way he was beginning to act. He was not acting as nice towards the feline and he would get more snippy than usual towards the cat. The attitude was just for the cat, none of the other animals that him and his wife had owned....
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...Poe’s short story “The Black Cat”, many things are repeated and follows a similar pattern to the rest of his stories. A black cat is killed and a very similar one is found shortly after, all while the narrator is losing his mind. Through the use of diction and syntax, Poe reveals that the narrator's voice is mad. The narrator uses syntax to affect his voice and to sound insane. Not only are his ideas insane but also the way he describes them. Through the use of long, run on sentences as a form of syntax, the narrator describes many ideas at once. After stating a few ideas, “...[he] resolved to dig a grave in the floor of the cellar… casting it in the well in the yard---about packing it up in a box as if merchandise…[he] determined...
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...The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe Title – Author – Genre Is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in August 1843 Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January, 1809 – October, 1849). American author, poet, editor, and literary critic. His life was filled with tragedy, this had a fortunate side effect on his writing and added a degree of sadness and a depth of despair that can be hard to read, let alone replicate. Poe’s best know fiction works are Gothics, a genre his mostly wrote to appease the public taste. He often chose dark themes for his works, included questions about death, decomposing of bodies, premature burial, mourning, and necromancy. All of these elements are in the black cat. Summary An unnamed narrator opens the story by stating that he is sane, despite the wild an unnatural story of horror he is about to tell. The narrator confesses a great love for animals. He states that pets respect the fidelity of friendship better then humans. The narrator marries young with a wife that takes in his love and joy for domestic pets. One of the pets they have together is a black cat named Pluto, which the narrator shares a special relationship with. As the narrator develops an alcohol problem, he gets mood swings and outburst of rage which leads to violence and the narrator torturing and hanging Pluto. After Pluto’s death the narrator’s house is caught on fire. When the narrator sees the ruins of his house after the fire, he sees a picture of Pluto...
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...Literary essay - The Black Cat Alcoholism is known by many as a disease. A never-ending addiction, which can completely change the abuser’s personality to a point where he or she is almost unrecognizable, compared to how he or she was before. In the story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Poe Allen, 1842, the protagonist goes from an animal-loving husband to an animal and wife -abusing psychopath, due to him being constantly under the effect of alcohol. The narrator in the story is on his death row, and he is looking back at earlier events while confessing his sins. In his childhood, the narrator was very fond of animals, and was given many pets by his parents, which he enjoyed taking care of. “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions” (P.7 L. 18-20). The narrator was as a child, very sweet, kind and lighthearted, which is why he took great pleasure in spending time with his pets. Unfortunately, he was also bullied, which resulted in him spending all his time caressing the animals, because they liked him compared to his bullies. As a grown man, the narrator gets a new cat but ends up mistreating it. He starts drinking a lot and feeling irritable and violent while even abusing his wife and his other pets. This causes the black cat, Pluto; to avoid and neglect him, because it is feeling scared. From the narrators point of view however, he feels that it does not...
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...The Black Cat by: Edgar Allan Poe (Published 1845) FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not -- and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified -- have tortured -- have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror -- to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place -- some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of...
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...Analyses of Black Cat Do you believe that some mistakes drag you into another life? or Would you like to torture something? Maybe, life will make you some errors and you will accompany it or you will make your own way. Edgar Allan Poe narrates a situation in which making dilemma and concluding murder, feeling of guilty, and addiction in his story Black Cat. Edgar Allan Poe, (born January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. He was 34 when the story Black Cat was produced. The Black Cat was first produced in the United States, The Saturday Evening Post on August 19, 1843. As the story begins, the narrator is in jail awaiting his execution, which will occur on the following day, for the brutal murder of his wife. At that point, the rest of the story is told in flashback, as the narrator pens “...the most wild, yet homely narrative...whose events have terrified--have tortured--have destroyed him.” The story, which is whole text, has many adaptations. For example, Universal Pictures made two films titled The Black Cat, one in 1934, starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and another in1941 starring Lugosi and Basil Rathbone. Both films claimed to have been "suggested by" Poe's story, but they don’t resemble to the story. The middle segment of director Roger Corman's 1962 anthology film Tales of Terror combines the story...
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...hideous heart!” that just proves he’s mad. Just imagine a family member was suffering from all of these, no one wants to have to go through that, it’s not something that happens to many people. All of those reasons affected his life, he didn’t just write about it, he lived it as well. Meanwhile, Poe being an alcoholic was a very big part of his writing on a book called The Black Cat. As he started to drink, he went crazy. He ended up killing his cat because his drinking was making him unstable, he killed his...
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...1). The main character may start off as being nice and sensible but becomes less and less so as the story develops. In this sense the cat could be seen as having more sense than the man 2). The name of Pluto is very metaphorical in Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Black Cat. Pluto is the name given in Roman Mythology to the god of the underworld. 3). It shows how alcoholism slowly changes him over time. 4). He loved the cat and it was his favorite cat he owned. He eventually mistreats the cat because of his alcoholism. 5).He describes it as a perpetual inclination… to violate that which is law, just because we understand it to be such. That is a very legitimate definition of the word in my opinion. I also agree that it is human nature because...
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...“To make the world his own, he swooped On thrushes, thrashers, jays, and chickadees ,At noon he drove away a big black cat. A mockingbird can sound like anything. He imitates the world he drove away” With this poem the bat show Homage to the mockingbird with the words he uses. 3.After completing your summary, predict how the mockingbird will react to hearing the bat's poem. Will he like it or dislike it? Why? Answer: The mockingbird would probably be happy because the bat shows how Mature he is at mocking. Now, in the moonlight, he sits here and sings. A thrush is singing, then a thrasher, then a jay. Then, all at once, a cat begins meowing. A mockingbird can sound like anything. He imitates the world he drove away. All day the mockingbird has owned the yard. This is good for the mockingbird, and also good for the bats and the chipmunk because the mockingbird showed them a new Introduction to life without that many predators. Without that many predators they can Brawl more without having to be scared of...
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...Edgar Allan Poe was a 19th century writer and one of the most celebrated writers today. He was known for his unique writing style. Today I will be analysing the main character in his story “The Black Cat” and whether or whether not he should be classified as a psychopath. The character starts off rather normal, living a normal life with a cat and life. That all changes when the character mutilates a cat which he supposedly loves, giving no reason beyond that he feels like he has to do it. The cat fears him, and eventually, he would hang it, still giving no solid reason. The cat comes back in some sort of ethereal form, which he fears. He opts to kill it, attemping to strike it with an axe and kill it, but his wife stops him. He kills his...
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