The Black Cat - The Story

The Black Cat is one of Edgar’s most haunting tales. I believe this is the first thing I had read of Edgar’s and if you’re familiar with the story, you too will find a hard time shaking the story off. The story chronicles the unnamed narrator as he spirals down into madness. The narrator tells us in the beginning what we are about to read about and how he thinks himself sane. He’s an animal lover with quite the zoo: he has birds, goldfish, a dog, a monkey, rabbits and a beautiful black cat names Pluto. He also has a wife and talks about how they married when young and how deeply in love the are. The narrator starts to abuse his animals except for Pluto. However later on Pluto's presence starts to bother the drunk man and out of anger and frustration he hangs the cat.

 

 Another cat arrives resembling Pluto except with a splash of white on its coat. He welcomes the cat and is also revisited fondness for the cat and is deeply adored by the wife. The narrator slowly turns against the cat with feelings of anger and contempt as the splash of white reminds him of the gallows which reveals the mode of execution of Pluto. One day, the cat gets in his way as he descends the basements stairs and angers the narrator as he picks up an axe to kill the cat. His wife tries to stop him but before she can the narrator strikes her and kills her instead. 

The narrator then constructs a tomb-like grave within the walls of the basement. When he finishes filling his wife's grave with plaster, he turns to the cat which is now missing. A few days later the Police arrive. While checking the house with the narrator they start to leave seeing everything seems to be alright. The narrator boasts about the fine workman ship in the basement, tapping on the walls to show how well-built they are. However when he taps on the wall where he walled up his wife a deafening scream is heard along with scratching. The police frantically destroy the wall to not only find the narrator's dead wife, but with the missing cat on the wife's head.

  
The thing that one might be able to see as a similarity between this narrator and Edgar himself is the notion of alcohol. We know that Edgar liked his drink a little too much and throughout The Black Cat, we see the narrator pick up the habit too. The more he drinks the worse the story gets. Poe shows the grim side of alcohol to which he too may have battled.

The idea of human companionship with animals is one that is covered by Poe here. We see how rich and happy a healthy relationship with our pets or animals can be at the beginning of the story. But for man to turn against animal is brutally displayed towards the ending. I think that Poe was entertained and fascinated by that idea and am sure as he himself kept drinking those ideas would start to become quite twisted. Nonetheless Poe creates an astonishing and unforgettable tale of The Black Cat.