The Black Cat Irony

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"The Nose" is a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol written during his time living in St. Petersburg, Russia. During this time, Gogol's works were primarily focused on surrealism and the grotesque, with a romantic twist. "The Nose" tells the story of a St. Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own. The use of a nose as the main source of conflict in the story could have been due to Gogol's own experience with an oddly shaped nose, which was often the subject of self-deprecating jokes in letters. "The Nose" is divided into three parts and tells the story of Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov, who wakes up one morning without his nose. He later finds out that his nose has developed a life of its own, and has apparently …show more content…

It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart".[2] In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt. The story is presented as a first-person narrative. He is a condemned man at the outset of the story. The narrator tells us that from an early age he has loved animals. He and his wife have many pets, including a large, beautiful black cat named Pluto. This cat is especially fond of the narrator and vice versa. Their mutual friendship lasts for several years, until the narrator becomes an alcoholic. One night, after coming home completely intoxicated, he believes the cat to be avoiding him. When he tries to seize it, the panicked cat bites the narrator, and in a fit of rage, he seizes the animal, pulls a pen-knife from his pocket, and deliberately gouges out the cat's …show more content…

“Horror Fiction” is a genre of said category which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J.A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length...which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. All the while, Gothic Literature is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. The genre had much success in the 19th century, as witnessed by Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian Era, is Bram Stoker's “Dracula”. The name “Gothic” refers to the Pseudo-Medieval buildings, emulating Gothic Architecture, in which many of these stories take place. This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany. Gothic horror is said to have started in 1764 with the book of “The Castle on the Hill” by Horace

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