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Symbolism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

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Strong feelings, such as regret, anger, and guilt, can drive people to do things that are totally out of character. The narrator in "The Black Cat" written by Edgar Allan Poe had those strong feelings following him around. Although it is not explicitly stated, the author uses symbolism to represent these ideas. Symbolism plays a big part in "The Black Cat" showing the narrator's guilt at his crimes through the second black cat's appearance, actions, and impact on the narrator. The black cat's appearance symbolizes the narrator's past crime. The narrator suddenly notices "some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of gin, or of rum which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment… It was a black cat - a very large - one fully as large as pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one." (Poe 4). The narrator describes the cat telling how it has an uncanny resemblance to his past cat, Pluto, which he had hanged not too long ago in the story. This cat likely resembles Pluto to represent the narrator's crime of hanging his cat. The only difference, however, was one white spot on the cat's chest. The narrator claimed that this white spot on the cat's chest slowly transformed into " an object that I shudder to name - and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared - it was now, I say, the image of a hideous - of a ghastly thing- of the GALLOWS!" (Poe 6) This further illustrates

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