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The black cat

Short Story

SYMBOLS: The Black Cat - It's more than just the title of the story (it's also an important symbol). Like the bad omen of legend, Pluto (the black cat) leads his owner (the narrator) down the path toward insanity and loss of reason. Alcohol - While the cat is the outward personification of everything that the narrator hates, his drinking problem (alcoholism) is the real reason for the loss of his grip on reality. There are no positive side-effects to his addiction to alcohol. House & Home - "Home sweet home" is supposed to be a place of safety and security, but it becomes a dark and tragic place of madness and murder. The narrator kills his favorite pet (the black cat), and then he kills his own wife. So, even the relationships that should have been the central focus of his healthy and happy home become scapegoats to his deteriorating mental state. Cell - The narrator is in a prison when the story first begins, but his mind had become entangled in a mass of confusion and unreality long before he was discovered for his murderous crimes against animals and humanity. The Wife - His wife could have been a grounding force in his life. The narrator describes her as having "that humanity of feeling." She could have "saved" him, or at least escaped with her own life. Instead, she becomes another horrible example of innocence lost. She never leaves him (she's loyal, faithful and kind), and she eventually dies (not of "natural causes," but as the result of the worst possible murderous (alcohol-induced) rage.

THEMES: THE HOME In this story, things seem alright in the beginning. A young couple, animal lovers both, get married and fill their home with "birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat". But something, or several somethings, go terribly wrong. The home becomes a scene of domestic abuse and murder. VIOLENCE In "The Black Cat" the unnamed narrator offers us a parade of violent acts. Eye gouging, hanging, axing – these are the gruesome highlights. Until the end of the story, when somebody is killed, the detailed accounts of violence are focused on Pluto, the black cat who moves from pampered pet to persecuted beast. The violence the unnamed narrator practices against his wife and the other pets is rather vague. Yet, we get a pretty clear picture of what is happening. And by the end of the

story the narrator has completely destroyed his family, and perhaps, completely destroyed himself in the process. DRUGS AND ALCOHOL In this story, the narrator describes to the readers the effects of the alcohol. His drinking problem (alcoholism) is the real reason for the loss of his grip on reality. There are no positive side-effects to his addiction to alcohol.. He became more irritable, cared little for the feelings of others and often used intemperate language with his wife, often including violent acts towards her as well. He maltreated the rabbits, the dogs, the monkey and even his favorite pet, Pluto. drinking problem (alcoholism) is the real reason for the loss of his grip on reality. There are no positive side-effects to his addiction to alcohol. Freedom vs. Confinement "The Black Cat”, a claustrophobic tale of marital life gone wrong, offers a distinct movement from freedom to confinement. We meet the narrator already in his prison cell, writing, to free himself from his bonds – the literal bonds of the cell, and the bondage confining his mind and heart. How he became so trapped is the subject of his writing and the reason why he has taken the pen to the page. We learn how he traps his wife and pets in a cycle of violence and abuse. As things go from bad to worse, the physical spaces the characters inhabit shrink. Though the man's story begins in a house of wealth and comfort, it ends in brick tomb in the cellar of a rundown building. JUSTICE AND JUDGMENT Since the unnamed narrator of "The Black Cat" is writing from his prison cell, we can be sure that justice and judgment are on his mind. In the 1830s, when Poe was writing, the wheels of legal justice couldn't begin to turn until our narrator went too far and killed his wife. At the time, it wasn't illegal to abuse one's wife or animals. The story questions ideas of judgment and justice, and reflects the fraught and turbulent state of the US justice system in a time when rights for women, African Americans, animals, children, the mentally ill, and convicted murderers were hotly contested issues. Since domestic abuse happens every day, in spite of the law, "The Black Cat" still finds a receptive audience, over 160 years after it first appeared on the literary scene. Love and hatred Many of the crimes of Poe's protagonists are particularly detestable because they involve the death of someone whom they loved. The narrator's affection for Pluto and his wife turns into rage as the characters sinks into alcoholism. Loyalty

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A pet is often seen as a loyal and realistic colleague in life. The hallucinations of the narrator related to his black cat, which throws him into the most extreme fervent and murderous rages. The idea of loyalty is turned upside-down; his favorite pet becomes his biggest enemy. TRANSFORMATION In "The Black Cat" some form of transformation occurs in nearly every paragraph. For the narrator, these changes are psychological. After he gets married, his personality spirals deeper and deeper toward the dark side, cruelly abusing his pets and his wife. His initially happy home life is turned upside down, and everyone involved is adversely affected and changed for the worse. Like many horror stories, "The Black Cat" also offers the possibility of supernatural change, though this might just be a figment of his imagination, or an excuse to deflect blame from his crime. Supernatural beliefs The theme of supernatural elements is clearly shown in this story. The title “The Black Cat” itself suggests supernatural elements, for there are various superstitions regarding the bad luck and omen that a black cat brings. In this story, the narrator kills his pet, Pluto, a black cat, by hanging him from a tree branch. After the murder of the black cat, bad luck follows the narrator. His house gets burnt, and only one wall remains standing, and this wall has an impression of the black cat with a rope about the animal’s neck was made onto it. A few days later, another black cat appeared in front of the narrator. This cat looked exactly like Pluto, except it had a patch of white fur at the bosom, which later represented the ‘gallows’. In the end, the narrator killed his wife and hid her in the cellar. When the police came to search his house, a loud noise came from the cellar. The cellar walls fell and the wife’s dead body was revealed, and sitting on her head, the black cat. The events that followed the hanging of Pluto can be attributed to supernatural explanations, for it is a common belief that a black cat brings bad luck. Thus, it portrays the theme of supernatural belief.

The Setting

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Poe provides few details about his settings. Unlike many of his stories with complex decorations, this story focuses more on the action of the main character. There are several settings:

The Jail Cell: This is a small room where the narrator is felt to look at his actions and his life. He still refuses to take conscientiousness for his actions. The story is written in the narrator's jail cell, highlighting the theme of "Freedom and imprisonment." The narrator writes from a space of confinement, and detailing the events that led him to prison is one of the few freedoms he has left. This tension between freedom and confinement is repetitive throughout the story, and is mostly powerful when we look at some other aspects of the setting. 

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The Narrator’s Home: The first house becomes a prison room for the wife and the pets. The person who reads discovers that the family was rich and even had servants. When the house is shattered by fire, after years of mistreatment, the pets finally escape their terrible "home," and die suffering by the conflagration. The bedroom wall that is left standing after the fire with its raised image of the cat foreshadows the second cat’s entrance in the man’s life. It also represents the psychological clutch that Pluto has on the narrator. The yard of the burned house: This is the place where Pluto is hung. This foreshadows the death of the narrator as he will be hung the next day after his story is completed. The new house: The second house is aged and sad where the family has lost their riches in the fire. The bar where the second cat is found: The bar is a grimy, soggy place where the narrator seems (the cat sitting atop a vast barrel of wine.) The cellar: The cellar is another important aspect of the setting. The cellar is under the rest of the house where reflects the consciousness of the man and other characters is reflected, the cellar echoes his subconscious. The unconscious is supposed to be that seething pool of desires and fears that lurk beneath the surface of our conscious thoughts. In the cellar, all the man's deepest fears and desire terminate in the murder of his wife.

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THE BLACK CAT CHARACTERS THE NARRATOR The narrator has major issues. This unnamed character is an abusive bully and a murderer. He made home a living hell for his wife, pets, and himself. He's writing to us from his prison cell, He tells us that around the time he murdered his wife, all "good" had been driven from his personality and he reveals his psychological transformation from nice-guy to villain.

: ‫بتعبير أخر‬ The main character in the short story is also the narrator. This main character is not a protagonist, but an antagonist or the villain. Since he is also the narrator, we can only

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identify his traits based on what he tells us, his thoughts and his actions. However, the narrator gives us plenty of details about the evolution of his character from “docility and humanity” . The Narrator's Wife a woman of agreeable disposition who likes animals and obtains many pets for her husband. she is kind, giving, and loyal . She is a highly sympathetic character, in her own right. First Black Cat a cat named Pluto that loves the narrator but irritates him when it follows him everywhere. It's large, fuzzy, and sagacious. Over the years Pluto moves from a pampered pet to an abused beast. He is blinded and ultimately murdered by his owner. Second Black Cat .The second black cat looks almost exactly like Pluto. He's big, black, and missing an eye. The only difference is the white spot. The spot starts off innocently enough, but then grows into an image of the gallows. Policemen officers who investigate the happenings at the home of the narrator. Servant Person working in the narrator's household.

Questions and answers 1. In the first few paragraphs, the narrator gives us some background information about himself. What does he most stress? He stresses that he is not mad, that he is a common, ordinary, mild-mannered individual capable of reason. Since the events of this story, he has become irrational and excitable. 2. Who was Pluto? Pluto is the narrator's cat. 3. Describe the relationship between Pluto and the narrator. At first, they are very close; the narrator is very fond of the cat. Then, because the narrator has a bit of an alcohol problem, the relationship changes.

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4. What was the first violent act the narrator did to Pluto? He cut the cat's eye out. 5. What second act (the narrator describes as being done in the spirit of perverseness) did he commit on Pluto? He hanged the cat by a rope from a tree and killed it. 6. On the night the narrator killed Pluto, what happened to his home? His house burned down leaving only one wall with a figure of a cat with a rope around its neck. 7. Describe the second cat. The second cat looked very much like Pluto except it had a white mark on its neck. 8. Describe the relationship between the second cat and the narrator. At first the narrator liked it and was kind to it, but he grew to dislike it and eventually hated it. He would have killed it, but he feared it. 9. What peculiar mark did the cat have? He had some white on his neck/breast area. The narrator began to think it looked like gallows. 10. Why did the narrator kill his wife? He just about tripped over the cat and was ready to kill it with an axe when his wife grabbed his arm and stopped him. Instead of killing the cat, in his rage, he killed his wife. 11. How did he dispose of the body? He bricked her up in a false chimney wall. 12. Who came on the fourth day after the murder? The police arrived. 13. What was the narrator's reaction to the police? He invited them in -- even took them to the basement. 14. How did the police discover the body?

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In his over-confidence, the narrator hit the wall behind which was the body. The cat screamed from within, giving away the hiding place.

15. Where is the climax of the story? The climax of the story is when the cat screams from behind the wall informing the police about the narrator's murdering his wife. 16. Which is more important to Poe's purpose: the murders or the revealing of the narrator's mental state? The murders are just the events by which we are allowed to examine the narrator's mind. Examining the narrator's mental state is most important. 17. Why is the setting of the story vague? The setting is not very important to the story; it is a story of psychology. It is also a story of effect. Because the reader has to use his/her imagination to fill in any gaps Poe leaves, he becomes more immersed in the story and the effect of the story will be greater. 18. What value does using the first person narrative add to the story? It allows us to see the workings of the narrator's mind and it also makes us closer to the story (thus making the effect of the story greater). 19. What do you think of the narrator? Is he crazy or not? He isn’t crazy, his actions do seem to make him appear crazy but there is evidence in his story that shows that he is not really crazy: a) The narrator opens his story by telling the reader that he knows what he did was unbelievable, A crazy man would not be able to recognize that what he has done is irrational. b) The narrator offers a couple explanations for why he did what he did and one is alcohol. Alcohol does not justify the actions of the narrator, but it probably impaired his judgment. He may not have murdered his wife and pets if he had not been under the influence of alcohol, which is another piece of evidence that shows that he is not crazy but rather an alcoholic. c) When the house catches fire and an impression of the black cat is left on a white surface, the narrator uses reason to explain what he was seeing. The narrator tries to explain the impression of the cat, instead of thinking

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superstitiously and believing that it is haunting him. This shows that he is not crazy because he makes a clear argument as to how the impression could have gotten there.

What relationship did the narrator have with pets when he was a child? Early in the story, the narrator talks about himself as a child, noting his docile disposition and that he "was especially fond of animals." He goes on to say that his parents "indulged" him with "a great variety of pets." He states that he spent most of his time with his various pets and that he was at his happiest and most content when he was taking care of, feeding, and stroking them. He does not lament the fact that other children made fun of him for his tender heart. Moreover, the narrator says that his love of animals never left him as he grew to manhood and that the friendships he has with animals are superior and more longlasting than any he has with humans. When he eventually marries, he and his wife replicate his childhood by acquiring a menagerie of their own, including "birds, goldfish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat." In "The Black Cat," how does the narrator feel about what he did to the cat? The narrator is telling the story because of the terrible burden of guilt he feels over his crimes. One of these is of course the murder of his wife but he feels perhaps just as guilty about his treatment of Pluto, his most beloved pet. He recounts that these events "have tortured" him and "have destroyed" him. He recounts in detail the great fondness he had for Pluto. This cat, amongst all his other animals, was the most dear to him. The cat demonstrated an obvious affection for him and would have followed him everywhere if possible. But once the narrator succumbs to the demon of alcoholism, he quickly descends into a dark place where he begins to feel a terrible annoyance and anger about Pluto. The cat had begun to avoid him as he was in a terrible state nearly constantly. Once he cuts out Pluto's eye in a fit of rage, he decides that he must hang the cat. This is not to put the cat out of its misery but in fact is to damn himself. The narrator feels so guilty that he feels the need to place his soul beyond any hope of mercy. Did the narrator feel guilty ? In Poe's short story "The Black Cat," the first person narrator, while admitting he killed his wife by taking an axe to her head, nevertheless seems to deny that he is actually guilty of murder. As he weaves his tale from his jail cell the night before the hanging, he attempts to justify his actions three ways. First, he implies that some supernatural force that he was powerless against drove him to commit the deed. In his introductory remarks, he anticipates that by sharing his story, someone will be able to ascertain that the whole affair was "nothing more than an ordinary

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succession of very natural causes and effects." In saying this, he shows that he himself believes the events had a supernatural cause. He describes his state when he killed his wife as "a rage more than demoniacal," and he equates the cat's screams with the screams of demons from hell. The implication is that he was unable to not kill his wife because supernatural forces were at work. To provide himself with other excuses, the narrator also at various times blames his action on alcoholism and on the cat. He uses these three excuses to try to avoid guilt for the crime he admits he committed. A counterclaim against the narrator's arguments could center around deconstructing any legal defenses that could be used to acquit him of the murder. First, people can be acquitted of a murder charge if they acted in self-defense. By the narrator's admission, this cannot be used as a defense in his case. His wife was only trying to keep him from killing the cat; she did not threaten the narrator's life in any way. Second, another defense that can result in a "not guilty" verdict is the insanity defense. Interestingly, the narrator chooses not to pursue a defense that may, in fact, apply to him. He begins the story by proclaiming, "Mad am I not." Even if he had tried to use an insanity defense, one could point out that his actions after the murder show that he was in possession of his mental faculties. An insanity defense often relies on showing that the person did not know that what he or she was doing was wrong. By walling up the body to dispose of the evidence, the narrator shows he knew he had committed a crime. Since the man admitted to killing his wife, and since it was not in self-defense and the man cannot claim the insanity defense, he is guilty of murder. He cannot be exonerated by blaming a supernatural force, alcoholism, or a black cat. Who is the protagonist in "The Black Cat"? Although most people think of a protagonist as the "good guy" or the hero of the story, a protagonist is simply the main character. I have provided a couple of links explaining what a protagonist is; the first is a literary site that explains the concept in terms of literature only, and the second is just a dictionary definition of the word. In The Black Cat, the protagonist is the narrator, and he is certainly not a good guy or a hero. In fact, he is quite the opposite, as he ends up being abusive both...