The Black Cat Group

Question:


zahraamousawe
Student
College - Junior

What is the significance of having a cat other than the black cat in the story?

Is it possible that the white spot on the second cat's chest is telling us that the narrator is going to be hanged in the end. 

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Posted by zahraamousawe on Wednesday November 12, 2008 at 4:47 AM and tagged with foreshadowing, symbolism, the black cat.

Answers:

  1. intlteacher
    intlteacher Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    If you look at the story as a racial allegory, as some critics have, the significance of this second cat which is not completely black becomes clear.  While the first cat could stand for someone of African-American descent, the other cat might represent the ever-diminishing racial lines.  This work could be seen as Poe's call for the abolition of slavery in this sense.  The hanging of the cat certainly alludes to the lynching of slaves.  The method used to kill the cat cannot be left out of the meaning as capturing and tying up a cat is certainly not the easiest means of getting rid of it!

    Sources:
    http://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Shadow-J-Gerald-Kennedy/d...
    http://www.enotes.com/black-cat/summary

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    Posted by intlteacher on Monday November 24, 2008 at 3:33 AM