The Black Cat Group at eNotes

The event described in this line is foreshadowing the police's discovery...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:36:05 PST

The event described in this line is foreshadowing the police's discovery of the wife's body inside the cellar wall with the cat sitting on the body. The discovery itself is the climax of the short story.

"The Black Cat" like many of Poe's stories has a couple of...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:49:54 PST

"The Black Cat" like many of Poe's stories has a couple of autobiographical elements. 1. First, the death of a cherished woman occurs. Poe often includes this type of event in his writing because his mother--a beautiful actress--died when he was young. Later Poe loses his young wife to consumption and writes more works that include a woman's death. In "Cat," the narrator seems to love his young wife, but ultimately turns against her...

How does "The Black Cat" relate to Edgar Allan Poe's life?

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:57:28 PST

How does "The Black Cat" relate to Edgar Allan Poe's life?

One might think that having his wife safely concealed from detecting...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:56:26 PST

One might think that having his wife safely concealed from detecting eyes might give him the most peace of mind. While he does think he "cleaned up" quite well, and is resting easy about the detection of her body, what gives him the most peace, calm and satisfaction is something else entirely. After he bestows of his wife's body in the walls, he sets about finding the black cat that has caused him so much trouble. He looks and looks, but...

The narrator, by the end of the story, has revealed himself to be a...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:48:11 PST

The narrator, by the end of the story, has revealed himself to be a vicious and violent abuser of animals and people alike. He has confessed to being irritable, difficult, tempermental, and is probably even in jail for the brutal and horrific murder of his own wife, after brutally injuring and murdering numerous animals. Given this picture of the narrator, it goes against our expectations to know that as a child, the narrator was a sweet,...

In reply to #2: Would you think this is the climax of the story or...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:53:31 PST

In reply to #2: Would you think this is the climax of the story or foreshadowing or personification?

One literary device that is immediately evident is alliteration, the...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:14:32 PST

One literary device that is immediately evident is alliteration, the repetition of initial consonant sounds. In this case, the alliterative words are "sooner," "sunk," and "silence"; both words begin with the letter "s," creating a specific form of alliteration called sibilance (repetition of the "s" sound). Sibilance is evident also within the words "answered" and "voice." Another device that appears is assonance, the repetition of vowel...

literary devices

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:12:18 PST

The Black Cat by Poe--"no sooner had the reverberation of blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb." What literary device is evident in this line?

In "The Black Cat," in retrospect, why are the narrator's childhood...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:58:37 PST

In "The Black Cat," in retrospect, why are the narrator's childhood experiences ironic?

In "The Black Cat" what allows the narrator to rest peacefully following...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:56:58 PST

In "The Black Cat" what allows the narrator to rest peacefully following the disposal of his wife's body?

I am assuming that you are referring Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:10:27 PST

I am assuming that you are referring Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat." The narrator explains that before his drinking problem, he had been a very nice man, amiable, with a fond love for animals. However, his drinking effected a pretty drastic change upon him; he became irritable and violent, lashing out at his pets, and even beating his wife. Any one of those acts might be a foreshadowing to the brutal murder that he later...

His alcoholism

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:34:14 PST

His alcoholism

In "The Black Cat" what earlier mention of violence foreshadows what the...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:09:24 PST

In "The Black Cat" what earlier mention of violence foreshadows what the narrator does to his wife?

At the beginning of the story, the narrator blames his nasty temper on...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:56:23 PST

At the beginning of the story, the narrator blames his nasty temper on the effects of alcohol. He admits to his bouts of rage and violence to the point that he seems to be a stranger to his former self: ...my general temperament and character—through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance—had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of...

What does the narrator say is the reason why he is abusive in Poe's "The...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:35:41 PST

What does the narrator say is the reason why he is abusive in Poe's "The Black Cat"?

Doesnt the fire cast a shadow of the Cat causeing it to seem bigger?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:18:41 PST

Doesnt the fire cast a shadow of the Cat causeing it to seem bigger?

The fire itself in "The Black Cat" is not immensely significant, but...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:39:00 PST

The fire itself in "The Black Cat" is not immensely significant, but its effect is. On the very night that the narrator hangs his once-beloved cat Pluto, his house catches on fire. The entire house with the exception of one wall is destroyed. When the narrator approaches a crowd gathered around the remaining wall, he notices that a figure on the wall, almost as if an artist had created it, is drawing their attention. He states that...

What is the significance of the fire in Edgar Allan Poe's story "The...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:01:51 PST

What is the significance of the fire in Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Black Cat"? There's a symbolic phenomenon that I don't seem to understand.

Both of these stories have narrators that murder someone and bury them...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:59:19 PST

Both of these stories have narrators that murder someone and bury them in a part of their house. Both of the narrators are caught by the police. Both have supernatural events occur to them (or, at least, a hallucination of their senses)--in "The Black Cat" the man thinks he sees the cat everywhere, and in "The Tell-Tale Heart" he thinks he hears the dead man's heartbeat. Both narrators have been put into confinement--one in jail, about...

What are the differences and similarities between "The Tell-Tale Heart"...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:12:03 PST

What are the differences and similarities between "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe?