Symbolism In The Black Cat

The problem occurs in the story when the person cannot find the head because almost all sensory perception went along with the head. In the end, the person says, " . . . I guess I’ll sit down / On this rock / And rest for just a minute . . . ." (p. 25). The rock, as the picture accompanying the poem shows, turns out to be the person’s lost head. This story is obviously impossible considering the biological fact that when a person is decapitated, his/her life ceases. However, with the use of simple end rhyme and an amusing story, Silverstein is able to present a light-hearted view of what could have been a tragedy.

“The Black Cat” is one of Poe’s more gruesome stories. It is one of the darkest stories he has written. The narrator opens the story by saying he is sane. It is the night before he dies. The story talks about the narrator’s past and how he knew so many people who all

The entire story is filled with the exciting and riveting near death feeling that flows through the story. From the beginning of the narrator not knowing where he is, to the end where he is saved from falling in the pit by the General, but inevitably dies a slow, painful death. “I n other conditions of mind I might have had courage to end my misery at once by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of cowards. Neither could I forget what I had read of these pits – that the sudden extinction of life formed no part of their most horrible plan.” (11) This shows how in the beginning there was the quick thought of a swift death, but by the end, the narrator realizes that there is no way out and accepts

	In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt. "The Black Cat," written by Edgar Allan Poe serves as a reminder for all of us. The Capacity for violence and horror lies within each of

He consistently wrote poems about extreme intoxication and depression. It is very common for someone to be so down that they purposely drink themselves to death. “The Black Cat” by EAP is a short story by Poe that was made four years before he passed away. The years close to Poe’s death he started to get back to his alcoholism and depression stage in his life. Poe’s real life actions showed up quite a bit in his works including this one. In this short story Poe describes a man and wife who own a cat by the name of Pluto. This character Poe made I believe is him so the actions that happened next shows his insane alcoholism at it’s worst. One night this man comes home from his night on the town extremely intoxicated. As he walked in he reached for the cat and Pluto bit a slight wound on his hand. “The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer”, showing he had no control over his actions. We can’t automatically turn to euphemisms when dealing with death. Poe was an amazing poet, yet the best of us still fall into a state that we can’t bring ourselves out of.The hardship he went through was a great inspiration for how Poe wrote great literature. In “To My Mother”,”Annabel Lee”, and “The Black Cat” we got a look into Poe’s life and into his mind. If we are not going to listen to multiple theories, lets atleast listen to the source of this

The narrative, “The Black Cat”, includes many symbols. The black cat is more than just the title; it is the legend, Pluto, that leads the narrator down the path toward insanity (“The Black Cat”). Pluto was the ruler of the underworld and the judge of the dead in classical mythology. This connection is not just an accident that Poe put together. A home is supposed to be a place where an individual feels safe and secure with or without others. Within this story, a home becomes a dark and tragic place, full of madness and murder. “I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence” (Poe 719). The narrator turned on his pets before his wife; maybe the black cat and his wife was just too much for him to handle. The narrator kills the black cat, and then proceeds to kill his own wife. A couple in a home, would normally be happy and intact with a cat as a pet, but in this narrative, this household is not happy and healthy; his wife and pet become prey to his deteriorating mental state. Another symbol found in “The Black Cat”, is his wife; she could have been a hurtful or demanding force in his life. The narrator describes her as having “that humanity of feeling” (Poe 721). His wife at any point could have either saved him, herself, or both. She could have saved herself by running away from the alcohol-induced man. The symbols that were incorporated in this narrative made the narrator’s psychological state more comprehensible. The conflicts within this narrative were more easily understood because of the symbolism used, to tie the depressing narrative together.

The Narrator in “The Black Cat” is explained as a man who fell into alcoholism and let deception take control over his mindset (Poe 79). His change of perspective over things causes him to believe his beloved first black cat (Pluto) is evil and demonic when the cat bites him one day (Poe 80). During the illusion from the excessive alcohol, he hangs Pluto (Poe 80). From guilt further on from killing his first cat, the narrator adopts another black cat. A while later, he comes to believe that the new cat has the same characteristics that Pluto had (Poe 82). In an act of fit from the new Black cat almost tripping him on the cellar stairs, the narrator starts to try to kill him with an axe (Poe 84). His wife comes in and tries to stop him, but instead that causes him to kill her. The narrator hides his wife’s body in a cellar wall, meanwhile the cat vanished (Poe 84). Four days later, the police came to do a thorough search. The narrator acted strangely calm and innocent, as if he had done nothing. They discovered her corpse with the cat standing on her head howling in the cellar wall though, and took the narrator into custody. (Poe 85-86).

In The Black Cat, it stated, “One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the I I me of a tree; — hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; — hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence.” (The Black Cat) He had given specific gruesome details to add intense towards the story. Poe wasn’t much of a writer to write about happy spiritual work; he eased towards dark, sad, angry work.

In the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe the reader is led onto a journey in which they are told the gruesome actions of a disturbed narrator. This subjective narrators' actions are spurred by a heavy alcohol addiction and deteriorating mental state. The narrator tells the reader of his deeds,which ultimately led to his demise, starting with the killing of Pluto. Pluto was the household cat of the narrator and his wife. He was very much cared and adored for but one night after returning home “much intoxicated” the narrator carved one of the poor beasts eyes after he upset him. After that event a disagreeable mood leeches onto the narrator and he decides to hang the pet using a noose and attaches it onto the limb of a tree . A

The last two lines act as a slap in the face. Every element works toward death, and the speaker almost slips into eternal rest. One can see him, putting the

Poe gives many gruesome and frightening details that make “The Black Cat” a horror fiction short story. Horror fiction is a genre of fiction designed to startle, frighten, or disgust the reader by inducing feelings of horror. Poe inducing feelings of horror through things that take place in the story such as the stabbing of Pluto, the first cat. When Poe wrote, “I took from my waistcoat pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of the eyes from the socket!” (Poe 436), he gives the reader a startled and disgusting feeling due to the gruesome depth of the sentence. Poe “darkens” the story even more with the hanging of Pluto and his wife’s murder. Poe writes about his wife’s murder and he gives evil details on the ideas of burying her in his

Edgar Allan Poe uses a great deal of symbolism in his story. He often uses symbolism to illustrate his views of nature. One example of Poe using symbolism in this short story is when he talks about how every time he see’s the black cat, he feels angry and paranoid. A black cat naturally symbolizes evil and for Poe to say that when he see’s a black cat, he feels anger, this gives the reader an ideal that the black cat in Poe’s short story, also symbolizes evil. Poe uses symbolism to impact the overall tone of the story by using symbolism and imagery throughout his story.

The Black Cat, written by Edgar Allen Poe, is a short story about a man, also the narrator, who starts out by living a “happy” life with his wife and favorite black cat, Plato. Although, he begins to be consumed by his drinking and becomes irritable. The black cat used to be by his side but now avoids him. This irritability leads him into becoming overly aggressive, which results in him hurting and murdering the cat. Then, a second cat appears who looks the same as Pluto but with a white spot on his chest. Eventually, the man starts to feel anger towards the cat and attempts to murder him with an axe, but his wife stops him. Unfortunately, his wife was hit in the head. The man then decides to bury his dead wife in his basement wall. He thinks he has got away with murder, but in the end, one learns that he had accidentally buried the cat alive with his wife. The cat reveals his hiding spot when he is caught by the police. Although it seems that the main character has committed these actions solely from alcoholism, it is obvious that there are signs he is also suffering from a mental illness.

Stories like the “black cat”, “The tell- tale heart”, “The masque of the red death”, and “Morella” all deal with horror, murder, and sudden death. The short story, ‘The black cat’ gives the audience a story line visual of the mind of an alcoholic and the way his behavior changes over time, in different scenarios the character starts to turn abusive to the animals that he once loved. The man then starts to isolate himself from the black cat which was his favorite animal until one day he snaps and kills the black cat by hanging it to a tree with a rope. Days later a cat comes back around him that shows almost the same identity of the black cat, but the only difference is the white patch which is the bottom part of the cat body. the man then starts to grow jealous as his wife shows attention to the new cat which then leads him to murder his wife and stuffing her dead body in a wall, he later confesses to the crime and spends life in prison. This story is very dark and gives a clear identification of the mind of a troubled individual who then takes out his anger by being abusive to the animals in his environment and later his wife. Different aspects in Poe’s stories look deep into the mind of a person and the reasons that leads to murder and death.

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.