Most of us have read some of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. One of my personal favorites is The Black Cat. In this story the narrator, who remains quite mysterious to us throughout the story, starts by telling us he is going to die tomorrow. He states that he is not mad, but he merely hopes someone will be able to explain his story with logic. At first, when I began to read it, I thought he was sane, but as I continued and finished the story I began to think he was indeed mad.
The narrator begins his story like
an average human being. He loves animals
and married a woman who likes them too. The
narrator’s favorite one of all is the black cat. The narrator is keen to the animal is such a
way that when he does end up killing it you are left shocked. He compares his rage to alcoholism. It has been said that Poe may have died from
alcohol poisoning in a ditch, and he did suffer from severe drinking
problems. I think this may be a
connection to the author and the narrator.
The narrator finds another cat and
this time it has one spot of white fur.
It is very fond of the wife. Again, the narrator is filled with his
alcoholic like rages, and tries to kill the cat. The wife being attached to the cat attempts
to stop him, but instead she ends up with an axe in her head. It is hard to see how the narrator could, in
anyway, be sane. When the cops come he
finds out where the cat is. He hid it in
the remaining wall from the house fire when he was trying to conceal his wife’s
body.
You find out now that the narrator
knows he will die tomorrow because he committed a crime. I love how Poe leaves you asking questions in
the beginning of the story. By the end,
you can figure most of it out, and you can make connections with his personal
life.
