Black Cat
Poe, Edgar Allen."The Black Cat." The Literature Network. 2008. Jalic Inc. 14 Sep 2008
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Summary
In the short story “The Black Cat” a physically undescribed narrator tells about the horrifying events that led up to his death sentence. When the narrator was growing up, he says, he was tender and compassionate. Because he especially liked animals, his parents provided him many pets to care for. His fondness for animals continued into adulthood. After he married, his wife also obtained pets for him, including birds, a goldfish, a dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a black cat. The cat was so intelligent, the narrator says, that his wife frequently reminded him of the rumor of black cats bring witches in disguise. “Not that she was ever serious on this point,” the narrator says. It was an extremely large cat, which the narrator named Pluto, and it was his favorite pet. The cat was fond of him, too, for it followed him everywhere. Over the years, the narrator’s disposition changed for the worse when he began to drink heavily. He became moody, shouted at his wife, and even struck her at times. He mistreated all of his pets except Pluto. In time, however, he even started to mistreat the cat. One night when he returned home drunk, Pluto seemed to avoid him. Irritated, he seized it. The cat then bit him on the hand. So enraged did the narrator become that he withdrew a pocket knife and cut out one of the cat’s eyes. The next morning, he experienced shock and remorse at what he had done–but not enough to change him. “I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.” (24) In time the cat's wound healed completely. But it fled in terror whenever it saw him. At first he pitied it; later he despised it. One morning, he put a noose around its neck and, tying the rope to the limb of a tree, executed it. He had tears in his eyes when he did the deed, for he knew...
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