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Question:

xero88
xero88
Student
College - Senior

What is the setting of "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe?

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Posted by xero88 on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 6:13 PM and tagged with setting, the black cat.

Answers:

  1. joe30pl
    joe30pl Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    That is almost a trick question. The story has the classic trope of a narrator you can not trust, but from his words we can infer that he lives in a major city. Since Poe lived for much of his life in Baltimore, Maryland and the East Coast, it is no great stretch to believe that the story takes place somewhere in that general region, but as I said before, the unnamed narrator is possibly mad. If he says he lived in a large house, with servants, and that he owned several animals how can we trust him? A rural setting, for the narrator's first house, is a possibility, but after the fire the narrator moves to another house within walking distance, apparently, of a tavern. That would imply some degree of civilization. So we know he lives near a tavern, but that a sparse clue. In the end, we have little clue of just where exactly the narrator is, assuming the man was even telling the truth in the first place.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/black-cat

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    Posted by joe30pl on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 7:03 PM


  2. brandih

    Please see the link below for another answer.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/black-cat/q-and-a/what-setting-blac...

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    Posted by brandih on Thursday March 12, 2009 at 3:05 PM