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The Black Cat
"The Black Cat" incorporates a number of literary devices, including an unreliable narrator, symbolism, and irony, to reinforce its theme that wicked people cannot feel remorse because they do not...
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The Black Cat
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...
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The Black Cat
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...
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The Black Cat
In "The Black Cat," Poe's first-person narrator reveals his unreliability throughout the tale. First, he calls what he has done--cut out the eye of one cat, hang that cat, try to kill a second...
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The Black Cat
Since we aren't mind readers, it's not possible to give a definitive answer to this question. So far as I know, Poe did not leave any commentary in letters, journals, or other writings as to the...
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The Black Cat
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...
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The Black Cat
The unnamed narrator tells the story in retrospect from a prison cell on the eve of his scheduled death by hanging. In the story, the narrator recounts his life and how his mental state slowly...
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The Black Cat
"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...
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The Black Cat
The protagonist in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” has murdered his wife and entombed her remains behind a brick wall in the cellar. The large black cat that had mysteriously...
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The Black Cat
The narrator begins the story by describing himself as a docile, tender individual with an affinity for household pets. The narrator elaborates on his fondness for animals and mentions that he...
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The Black Cat
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...
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The Black Cat
After the narrator kills the first cat, following gouging out one of its eyes, a second black cat appears, also with a missing eye. It is huge like the first cat but differs in that has a white...
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The Black Cat
When at the beginning of the story the narrator says that he “neither expect(s) nor solicit(s) belief,” he, or rather the author, is doing so as a way to build up the reader's anticipation of...
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The Black Cat
As the narrator is so thoroughly unreliable, we can't know for sure what his precise motivations are. But as his confession is taking place on the eve of execution, perhaps one could argue that...
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The Black Cat
Your original question unfortunately contained more than one question, and so according to enotes regulations I have had to edit it down to one question, focussing on why the narrator killed his...
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The Black Cat
Poe employs typical elements of Gothic literature in his classic short story "The Black Cat" by examining the darker side of humanity, portraying extreme violence and murder, exploring a tormented...
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The Black Cat
The mood of "The Black Cat" is one of perverseness, fright, and uneasiness. The narrator is clearly mentally ill and is an unreliable narrator, so this definitely adds to the mood of the...
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The Black Cat
There are two elements to consider in this question about "The Black Cat." When interpreting a literary work, one draws on the information that the author presents. This information enables one to...
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The Black Cat
This excellent short story by Edgar Allen Poe seems very similar to other examples of his shorter fiction, especially perhaps "The Tell-Tale Heart." The main similarity is its exploration of evil...
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The Black Cat
The answer to this question can be found in a very close reading of the text, and also in using inference, or an educated guess, to figure out where he is. At the beginning of the story, he starts...
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The Black Cat
"The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" do have definite similarities. I like your idea about relating animals and animal-like characteristics to evil and homicide. One major similarity that you...
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The Black Cat
The night the narrator hung Pluto, his house and everything he owned went up in flames. He, his wife, and a servant barely made it out of the house with their lives, but everything else was...
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The Black Cat
The two narrators in the stories “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” are perverted. Edgar Allan Poe delved into the perversity of each of his protagonists to find what compelled them...
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The Black Cat
Toward the end of the story "The Black Cat" the narrator does more than just tap on the brick. He describes his actions as "rapping heavily" upon the brick wall with a cane. At this point, the...
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The Black Cat
There are a number of characteristics associated with gothic literature or "gothic fiction." One source lists some of these elements (found in Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto) as a...
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The Black Cat
In his 1843 short story The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe’s narrator describes himself as an animal lover, with a particular affinity for certain of his and his spouse’s many pets. Among those...
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The Black Cat
The narrator changes from a quiet, compassionate child to a madman, prone to uncontrollable fits of rage and--in his own words--perversion in adulthood. He tells us that even from infancy, he was...
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The Black Cat
As an unreliable narrator, the narrator of "The Black Cat" sets up his entire story to try to excuse his actions, despite the ruse of trying to "unburden his soul" before his execution. The sin of...
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The Black Cat
I had to edit your question down to one question according to enotes regulations. The brief answer to your question is that I would encourage you to read this excellent story - it is not long at...
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The Black Cat
What a beautiful and terrible line that is! To move more directly to your question, in this quotation Poe is addressing the way that humans rebel against thing. You might think of Adam and Eve in...
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The Black Cat
In "The Imp of Perversity," the narrator describes perversity as being like a man who stands on the edge of some terrible abyss and contemplates falling from the edge to his doom. Note what the...
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The Black Cat
The description of the cat as "sagacious" adds characterization and tension to the story. "Sagacious" means "wise," particularly in a shrewd, discerning way. That is, sagacious people and animals...
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The Black Cat
The first step would be to identify the theme. A theme is a life-truth that the author is trying to share with his/her audience. For this story, the theme could be "familiarity breeds contempt,"...
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The Black Cat
You asked three questions - as an enotes editor I am compelled to reduce this to one question according to their regulations. This excellent short story by Edgar Allen Poe in many ways is similar...
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The Black Cat
The criminal mind's psychological ideas are a theme in this story. Poe is making the statement that the pathological aspects of the mind of a criminal are not as everyone might expect. The idea is...
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The Black Cat
The narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" is a murderer who claims that he was once so kind-hearted and docile that he was made fun of by his peers. He especially loved animals, however,...
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The Black Cat
In the exposition of "The Black Cat," the unreliable narrator lays down some things he feels readers should know about the story and himself as a person. He says that he has been known since...
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The Black Cat
To my mind, the most powerful symbol that there is in this chilling short story by Edgar Allen Poe is the black cat itself, which is obviously important enough to warrant being used for the title....
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The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" seeminly begins as a confessional on the part of Poe's signature unreliable narrator. However, it is not long before the reader discerns the ironic overtones of...
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The Black Cat
I think it is possible to read the second cat as symbolic of the narrator's guilt. After he maims and murders Pluto, the first black cat, he says that "there came back into my spirit a...
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The Black Cat
Cats symbolize wisdom and justice in both tales. In Poe's "Black Cat," the narrator begins by describing his love for creatures. But, "the disease of alcohol" begins to consume him, and he takes...
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The Black Cat
Your question appears to indicate an uncertainty about the term "symbolism," especially as it is applied to this excellent short story by Edgar Allen Poe. When we talk about symbolism in...
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The Black Cat
I have had to edit your question because your original question contained multiple questions, which is not permitted under eNotes regulations. This story of course contains the narrator's attempt...
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The Black Cat
Edgar Allen Poe uses a very ironic tone for his narrator in his short story 'The Black Cat.' The narrator begins in a strangely offhand tone, which, given the horror of the rest of the story is...
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The Black Cat
The story starts out with a boy who preferred the company of animals to the company of his peers. When he grows up, he finds a woman who feels the same way and they get married. One of the pets...
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The Black Cat
The narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" gradually changes from a man of sane, congenial nature to a psychopathic man. In the beginning of the story, the narrator seems quite genial in...
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The Black Cat
There can be many interpretations as to why the narrator focuses on the eye of the cat in Poe's "The Black Cat". Here are a few of my own interpretations. First, Poe, himself, seems to have a...
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The Black Cat
Depravity is defined as an action or series of actions that are morally corrupt or even wicked. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” the narrator, who is never named, describes several...
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The Black Cat
When we think about diction we are referring to word choice. Thus, when considering the word choice or diction in "The Black Cat" you need to consider which words are used that relate to the theme...
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The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" is narrated by a man who says he is going to die tomorrow so he wants to unburden his soul today. Unfortunately, he is not a particularly reliable narrator, as we...
