The Black Cat

Poe's story "The Black Cat" carries many details of his own personal life, like many of his stories. One major commonality in his stories is an unreliable, alcoholic narrator. Edgar Allan Poe...

In the very first paragraph of the story, the first- person narrator says, “But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburden my soul.” He knows that he is going to die tomorrow for the crime of...

The fact that the narrator gets caught is an example of his distorted view of reality. From the opening line the narrator tells the reader that he has a "wild" story to tell, but that it is...

As with many of Poe’s characters, the narrator in “The Black Cat” is deeply conflicted, not only with society but also with himself. For quite some time he’s been possessed by an urge to kill, an...

If we are to believe the narrator of “The Black Cat”—and that's a pretty big if—he used to be a kind, considerate human being with a sentimental attachment to animals. Back in the day, his house...

In the opening paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat," the narrator states that his "immediate purpose is to place before the world ... a series of mere household events." In...

To properly answer the question of what made the narrator kill his wife in the short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe, it is important to briefly go over the sequence of events and the...

The tone of a work is an author's attitude or feelings toward the subject matter. The tone of a piece of writing is often expressed through the author's writing style and diction. The tone of Edgar...

While it's true that the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" initially blames alcoholism for his change in behavior and evil acts, as the story progresses, he adds other details that...

The black cat symbolizes the state of the narrator's soul-which is black, mutilated, and decaying. The black cat is symbolic because it is the cat's meowing that draws attention to the wall, and...

The narrator in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat" is a self-professed animal lover, who claims to be a tender soul, a humanist, and a completely sane and loving character. The narrator says, My...

The narrator of the story "The Black Cat" can certainly be considered unreliable due to his alcoholism and his account of his sudden and drastic change in character. Formerly, the narrator had been...

The narrator in "The Black Cat" is an obvious sociopath, incapable of feeling true remorse or guilt. Nevertheless, as he tells his tale, he recounts a regression into further depths of depravity....

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story "The Black Cat," the main character, other than the two cats prominently featured in Poe’s story, is the unnamed narrator. The story is told in retrospective style...

The final lines of this chilling and rather disturbing gothic short story answer this question. The narrator, having thought that he had committed the perfect crime when he killed his wife and then...

Edgar Allen Poe loves to use dashes in his work. He uses them frequently in "The Black Cat," along with other works such as "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." Indeed, these...

The main character of the story is the unnamed narrator. He says that he was known for being kind and that he truly loved animals. However, his alcoholism made him cruel and abusive toward his wife...

Reading the story carefully reveals the answer to your question. After the narrator had become possessed by "the fury of a demon" and cut out the black cat's eye, the narrator explains how the...

The mood of a story is the feeling which the author tries to evoke in their readers. Everyone is different, of course, and so not every reader of a story will feel the exact same way. But authorial...

The unnamed narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's “The Black Cat” is sitting in a prison cell, awaiting execution for the brutal ax murder of his wife. He killed her in a fit of rage, probably induced by a...

The point of view of this story is first-person objective. The first-person part means that the narrator is a participant in the events that have taken place in the plot and that he uses the first...

One word sums up the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Black Cat": sociopath. A sociopath doesn't respect laws or social rules, disregards others' rights, displays emotional and violent...

After the narrator has cut out the eye of his cat, Pluto, he feels some remorse and horror at his behavior, and the cat wisely avoids him as they coexist. However, once the narrator announces, "and...

The name of Pluto is very metaphorical and allegorical in Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Black Cat. First, Pluto is the name given in Roman Mythology to the god of the underworld, or...

The name of the narrator's first cat, Pluto, is also the name of the Roman god associated with death; he is the equivalent of the Greek god, Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Pluto is, then,...

Early in the narrator's life, he was known for his "docility" and "humanity" as well as his "tenderness," especially toward animals. These traits followed him into adulthood, and he found a wife...

In Poe's short story "The Black Cat," the first person narrator, while admitting he killed his wife by taking an axe to her head, nevertheless seems to deny that he is actually guilty of murder. As...

"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe has elements of the supernatural common in many of Poe's short stories and poetry. The black cat that lives with the main character appears supernatural. The idea...

This statement made by the narrator in “The Black Cat” at the beginning of the story is important because it foreshadows events that later happen in the story. Pluto, the black cat, loves the...

If we are looking for "rational" explanations for the occurrences in "The Black Cat" or any story by Poe, we are missing the point somewhat. That a single wall would remain standing in a house...

A thesis statement is a claim one can prove or disprove using evidence from the text. An argumentative essay cannot simply be a summary of a plot but must make a specific claim. "The Black Cat" by...

The fire functions on at least two levels of symbolism in the story. First, it's arguably a punishment directed against the narrator by God, fate, or any supernatural avenging force, for his abuse...

The narrator's first cat, named Pluto, is described as "a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black and sagacious to an astonishing degree." The narrator's wife is so impressed with the...

After the narrator hangs his first black cat, Pluto, from a tree in the garden, knowing he is committing a truly vile sin, he discovers a similar cat in the bar where he often drinks. It is as...

When the story's narrator ultimately loses control and murders his wife, it is the climax of the story. The climax is brief and powerful: Goaded by the interference into a rage more than...

Poe reveals character mostly via direct characterization of the narrator. The narrator describes himself as possessing "tenderness of heart" and a "fond[ness] for animals." He claims that he was...

The narrator is telling the story because of the terrible burden of guilt he feels over his crimes. One of these is of course the murder of his wife but he feels perhaps just as guilty about his...

You are right in identifying that the vast majority of the story is told in a flashback form. The narrator looks back from his present location and situation and tells the story of how he came to...

The narrator of "The Black Cat" is what's called an unreliable narrator. This means that we can't be sure that what he's saying is true; we simply can't take him at face value. Instead, we need to...

Technically speaking, in Poe's story "The Black Cat" the first thing that 'happens' is that the narrator informs us he is going to die tomorrow and wishes to unburden his soul tonight by exposing...

Poe establishes an atmosphere of fear and horror in several different ways in "The Black Cat." Firstly, the narrator, who is telling the story from the first person point of view, describes himself...

The naming of the black cat ¨Pluto¨aggrandizes the cat to the level of the Greek god of the underworld (i.e. Hell) and, thus, personifies him. Further, the narrator declares that his relationship...

The narrator, who is on death row and soon to be executed, describes himself as not insane and insists that a logic of cause and effect can be applied to his actions that will show they derive from...

The obvious physical similarity is that in both tales, the idea of walling up the victim occurs to the killer and is carried out. Montresor decides to entomb Fortunato in a niche in the catacombs,...

As “The Black Cat” opens, the narrator establishes that he is going to die tomorrow, then gives some backstory/exposition: that he was an animal lover as a child; that he and his wife have a number...

The narrator in "The Black Cat" is not particularly remorseful. When he describes the murder of his wife and how he came to the conclusion of what to do with her dead body, he focuses more on how...