The Black Cat

885 Words2 Pages

The Black Cat The Black Cat, by Edgar Allen Poe, is a story about a man whose love for animals is overcome by an extreme hatred toward the creatures. What goes around comes around is a saying that would most effectively convey the message of this story because Poe implies that people will inevitably suffer the consequences of their actions. Through the careful construction of plot, the ongoing use of irony, and the rapid development of character, Poe captures the reader’s undivided attention and evokes a wide variety of emotions through this short story This story is a confession of an atrocious sin told by an old man on his deathbed. The plot begins to unfold as the main character reflects back on his childhood. He recalls having been an animal lover all of his life. A conflict first arises between himself and Pluto, his cat. He becomes angered when the cat rejects him out of fear. However, he quickly resolves this problem by killing the cat. Throughout the story he seems to be having an 2 inner conflict as well. He realizes how horrible and atrocious his sins are but is unable to feel remorse. While he seems to be an intelligent and virtuous man, he cannot seem to control his violent fits of drunken rage. He also deals with conflict on a more spiritual level. The cat that he has killed is haunting him. He tries to shrug it off as coincidence, but every time he comes up with an explanation for an unsettling even...

Show More
Related

  • On the Sidewalk Bleeding

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    Conflict is an important part of any short story. The short story, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding,” contains three major conflicts: man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs. himself. In this essay, I intend to explain, prove, and analyze these three struggles.

    Read More

  • The Evil Eye in The Tell-Tale Heart

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    Benfey, Christopher. "Poe and the Unreadable: 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart " New Essays on poe's Major Tales viii (1993): 27-43

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Similarities And Similarities Between William Wilson And The Black Cat

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    The short story the “Black Cat” begins with the narrator of the story telling his side of events that have occurred throughout his life. When first being introduced to the narrator you can tell something is off with him. The narrator is originally a well-put together man he has a wife and many of different animals but has a much greater love for one of his animals named Pluto a black cat. As the life of the narrator goes on he falls into a drinking problem he cant stop drinking and when he does drink he gets violent. One night when

    Read More

  • A Separate Peace Conflict Essay

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Internal conflict is easily shown in this novel, as Gene must fight many of his own internal struggles. For example, when a difficult event would occur, Gene would overthink the situation, and question his morals. Eventually, some of the conflicts within

    Read More

  • Internal Conflict In Peggy's House

    482 Words  | 1 Pages

    Like all of us, the characters in this story are having conflicts. A conflict is any problem someone is having. For example, “I don’t know if I should go to the store, or go over to my friend’s house and go to the mall to hangout”. People can have many different problems with them self’s, other people, and nature. They are called internal, and external conflicts. One example, in the book Peggy says “I need to find this book, God is telling me to find it!”

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Tell Tale Heart And The Black Cat

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    A common theme that is seen throughout many of Edgar Allan Poe’s text, is madness. Madness that will make the whole world turn upside down and around again. Madness that takes over somebody’s life. Madness and eye imagery is present in both “The Black Cat” and “The Tell Tale Heart” by Poe where madness is at first a fairy tale but then ends with a crash back to reality.Both stories share components of murder and insanity, and are very similar, not at first glance but if looked at more closely.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the single effect was the most important aspect of a short story, which everything must contribute to this effect. Poe’s gothic tale “The Black Cat” was written trying to achieve an effect of shocking insanity. In this first person narrative the narrator tells of his decline from sanity to madness, all because of an obsession with two (or possibly one) black cats. These ebony creatures finally drive him to take the life his wife, whose death he unsuccessfully tries to conceal.

    Read More

  • The Black Cat Theme Essay

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    for dark, mysterious, and bizarre works of fiction. His works sometimes reflected his life experiences and hardships he tried to overcome. Examples of the troubles in his life include alcoholism, having his works rejected over and over, being broke, and losing his family, even his beloved wife to tuberculosis. There is no wonder why his works are so dark and evil, they were taken from his life. A theme is defined as the major or central idea of a work. Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, contains six major themes that are discussed in this paper. They include the home, violence, drugs and alcohol, freedom and confinement, justice and judgement, and transformation.

    Read More

  • Hosting A Stranger In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    The struggle present itself through the protagonist own internal ranting his ignorance and lack of insight and self-awareness.

    Read More

  • Comparing Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The two short stories that I have chosen by Edgar Allan Poe are The Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat.  These two stories in particular have many things in common as far as technique goes, but they do have some significant differences between the two.  In this paper I will try to compare and contrast these two short stories and hopefully bring something to the readers attention that wasn't there at first.

    Read More

  • Theme Of The Black Cat And The Cask Of Amontillado

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is one of America’s most celebrated classical authors, known for his unique dealings within the horror genre. Poe was a master at utilizing literary devices such as point of view and setting to enhance the mood and plot of his stories leading to his widespread appeal that remains intact to this day. His mastery of aforementioned devices is evident in two of his shorter works “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.

    Read More

  • The Narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrator wrestles with conflicting feelings of responsibility to the old man and feelings of ridding his life of the man's "Evil Eye" (34). Although afflicted with overriding fear and derangement, the narrator still acts with quasi-allegiance toward the old man; however, his kindness may stem more from protecting himself from suspicion of watching the old man every night than from genuine compassion for the old man.

    Read More

  • The Black Cat Analysis

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying and grotesque. “The Black Cat is one of the most powerful of Poe’s stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust” (Quinn).

    Read More

  • Critical Interpretations of Poe's The Black Cat

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, "The Black Cat," is a disturbing story that delves into the contrasts between reality and fantasy, insanity and logic, and life and death. To decipher one distinct meaning presented in this story undermines the brilliance of Poe's writing. Multiple meanings can be derived from "The Black Cat," which lends itself perfectly to many approaches of critical interpretation.

    Read More

  • Disguised Motives for Murder in Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the stories, “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” both narrators have a misguided perception that induces their senses to confuse reality with delusions. This misguided perception is brought on by the abnormal psychology of both men. This is a common theme in Poes’ stories. In “The Black Cat” the narrator feels a sense of fright and disgust when reviewing the attached behavior of the second cat. Poe’s description of the second cat is eerily similar to that of the first cat, Pluto. As author Magdalen Wing-Chi Ki states, “the narrator is convinced that it ‘must be’ Pluto on account of two things: it follows him around in the hope of becoming his absolute partner, and one of its eyes is gone.” A rational person understands that it is impossible for the second cat to be Pluto, but the narrator is so misguided that he believes this inconceivable delusion. This mistaken fantasy fuels the narrator’s madness, giving him more evidence that mu...

    Read More

More about The Black Cat

Open Document