Black Cat Vs Pluto

poked out by the narrator is symbolic of the narrator not wanting the cat to get a clear perception of his evil heart. Then suddenly on one morning the narrator hung black cat one by a noose from a tree. The hanging of the first black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s

The storyteller begins the story by stating from an early age he has had an obsession with animals. Poe states, “This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure.” (Poe) This statement is evidence of the insanity the narrator experienced at a very young age. He goes on to explain that he and his wife have many domesticated animals, including Pluto, a large beautiful black cat. He describes the mutual fondness between him and the cat. This relationship between him and the cat, is strange. For years they have a growing friendship, until he started drinking alcohol in excess. The narrator goes on to explain how one night after getting completely intoxicated, the cat panicked and bit him. This causes the author to become angry and in a psychotic fit of rage, he takes a knife and cuts out one of the cat’s eyes. After this encounter, the cat fears him, and tries to avoid him at all cost. In the beginning, the storyteller is regretful and feels remorseful for the cruelty. But soon we see the narrator’s insanity expressed when Poe states, “But this feeling soon gave place

Before the episode of killing Pluto, the narrator, after returning home drunk and sensing that the cat was avoiding his company, seized it violently. During this physical bout the cat

Clearly the most ironic element in "The Black Cat" is the Narrator's own perversely unrealistic and distorted view of the horrible scenario that unfolds. He dismisses his awful cat mutilation as a "vile or silly action" committed, perhaps, like other foolish acts committed by "Man" "for no other reason than because he knows he should not." He goes on to wonder, "Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such" (FN3)? Later he finds himself haunted by the specter of the dead cat, but he comes up with a rational, albeit improbable, explanation for the strangled-cat image on his burned-out wall. His married life is a shambles and he lives, as we will learn later in the story, with a murderous, suppressed rage. But he barely mentions his wife until the end, when, in fact, he kills her; and he calmly goes about his daily life as if nothing were wrong, giving no hint that this peaceful facade is about to crumble.

One would ponder upon the narrator's consciousness that his misery would create an ability to find "joy" in having the sweet creature around again. Surprisingly, the author grows "disgusted and annoyed" by the cat's presence again, which gradually rises into "bitterness of hatred" and he looks upon the cat "with unutterable loathing" (325). The cat's excessive pertinacity of overly affectionate personality towards its master grows a repulsive reflex into the narrator such that he perceives the cat's "loathsome caress," its "odious presence" like a "breath of pestilence" rather than its loving personality and loyalty (325). "Evil thoughts bec[o]me my[his] soul intimates - the darkest and most evil of thoughts," which lead him to commit a brutal murder towards his own wife thus representing the destructive revelation of the plot (i.e., self-destruction in this particular story) (326).

Meanwhile, Pluto recovers and seems to no longer suffer from pain. However, Pluto’s love for its owner is now lost; the cat fears the sight of its owner and runs away whenever he is around. The narrator, who still expects Pluto to adore him, becomes irritated at the fact that Pluto is now terrified of him. This, along with his increasingly perverse mind, provokes the narrator to murder Pluto by hanging the cat to the limb of a tree. The narrator explains, “[I] hung it because I felt it had given me no reason offence; – hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin” (6).

However, it is too late, and his conscience does not survive his worsened state of mind. Thus, the inner workings of his mind, symbolized by the walls of his house, start to break down, which, in turn, kill the conscience. Consequently, his conscience is burned into his mind as a faint impression of guilt, symbolized by the bas-relief on the single standing wall at the head of his bed. Moreover, the use of eyes as a prop strengthens the connection of the cat and his conscience. It is a common saying that eyes are windows to the soul, which becomes the reason why the narrator gouges out Pluto’s eye. He does not want his conscience to affect his soul, so he takes out one of its eyes to prevent it from truly seeing his soul. Even though he feels slightly guilty after his violent act, “it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched”

In “The Black Cat,” the man was married to a patient and caring woman. They acquired another cat that, according to the man, looked remarkably like Pluto (709). One day, the cat almost tripped the man while they were walking down a flight of stairs. This “exasperated” the man “to madness” (Poe 709). He lifted an axe and “aimed a blow at the animal,” (Poe 709).

An unnamed narrator begins the story by claiming his is entirely sane, despite the narrative he is about to describe. He confesses a great love for cats and dogs, both of which, he says, respect the fidelity of friendship, unlike fellow men. The narrator marries at a young age and introduces his wife to the domestic joys of owning pets. Among birds, goldfish, a dog, rabbits, and a monkey, the narrator singles out a large and beautiful black cat, named Pluto, as his favorite. Michael Porter, an author for the website “GradeSaver”, wrote an article about The Black Cat and an analysis and overview about the story and what it means. Porter wrote a section on about the changes in the narrator when he said, “The narrator begins to suffer from violent mood swings, predominantly due to the influence of alcohol. He takes to mistreating not only the other animals but also his wife” (Porter, Web). During this uncontrollable rage, he spares only Pluto. As he turned more towards alcohol the beatings became more and more

The day before the death of the narrator he begins to pen the mishap that occurred before then. The narrator talks about all his precious animals and the fact that he would never mistreat them. He was peculiarly fond of his black cat Pluto. Though his wife thought that all black cats were secretly witches. This fondness of animals started grew with him as he started to become a man. The narrator had a tenderhearted with his animals, expressly Pluto. However, he's kind heartedness takes away for his manly hood. "I not only neglected, but ill-used them". The narrator kill all his animals and his wife except the second cat with the white bully.

Because of that the Narrator deformed the cat and later on eventually hangs Pluto from a tree without really knowing why he did it. Later on, a new cat, which resembles Pluto, becomes the focus of his ill

He claims that he hung the cat because it loved him, and because it did not do anything to deserve the punishment. Because of this, the sin that he committed would jeopardize his soul forever. No sane man would do this to an animal that he claimed to love. Again the narrator is not in control of his body and is being controlled by the supernatural and shows signs of mental illness.

For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him”. He abused all the other animals and even his wife but he never hurt Pluto. The first black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s evil heart. It shows favouritism and obsession with black cats from the start this story, later after he had murdered Pluto, he still went out and realised when he saw the second cat that it is what he was looking for. “What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes.”. The second black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s guilt. This fact about the cat made him hate more simply because he felt guilty of what he had done to Pluto. His guilt and religious torment gives us an insight to his insanity.

Her husband is the source of her emotional despair. He leaves her drowning in a storm of indifference and lack of affection. When she goes back to the room she begins to look at herself in the mirror studying her profile feeling unwomanly with short hair. She feels this causes the lack of physical and emotional attention from her husband. When she tells him of all the things she desires, he merely tells her to "shut up." He really doesn’t care about her concerns. She doesn’t defend herself from her husband’s verbal abuse but rather begins to pout like a little girl saying, "I want a cat, I want a cat now. If I cant have long hair or any fun, I can have a cat."(pg57) Suggesting that her husband will not allow her to have long hair or any fun. She wants this cat so bad, in order to hold it, pet it, and love it, symbolizing what she wants physically, to be held and touched, and emotionally, to be loved and cared for.

In the short story, both cats follow the narrator around the house; however, their motives seem to be different. The first cat, Pluto is loved by the narrator. According to the narrator, Pluto was “my favorite pet and playmate”, and it seems the cat reciprocated the love and would follow the narrator throughout the house (Poe). Pluto wanted to be with the narrator so much that the narrator had difficulty leaving the house and making sure the cat did not follow him outdoors. Their companionship lasted for several years, with the narrator being the one to solely feed Pluto and Pluto wanting to be by his side. Until one day, the narrator’s personality changed, and he killed Pluto and gets the second cat out of his feelings of remorse. The second cat was loathed by the narrator, but just as Pluto, the second cat wanted to be near the narrator. Likewise, the second cat would follow the narrator’s footsteps throughout the house, which would irritate the narrator profusely. The irritation seemed to encourage the cat to be around him even more and included the cat sitting under the chair, jumping onto the narrator’s lap and cuddling with him. The cat seemed to enjoy making the narrator angry and the narrator would wake at night and find the cat lying on his chest and as he states, “find the hot breath of the thing upon my face (Poe).” Since the second cat wanted to be near the narrator even though the narrator despised him, enhanced the belief that it was the second life of Pluto wanting the narrator to remember what he had once done, but that was not the only similarity.