Brendan Xu

ENGL256 0101 Kason

9/8/16
Paper One: Mad Madness
In Edgar Allen Poes work The Black Cat, he makes use of clever diction, vivid imagery,
and masterful symbolism to highlight the narrators absence of sanity and reason. The narrator is
first described as much intoxicated (2), immediately decreasing his reliability and ability to
stay in touch with the soberness of reality. This creates imagery of alcoholism, expressing the
narrators impairment in interpreting reality. In addition, the description of how the narrator
seized (2) the cat adds an element of agitation and frustration, revealing that the narrator is not
operating in a calm manner. The sheer act of inflicting a slight wound (2) upon the narrators
hand was enough for him to lose all touch with human morality, metaphorically evolving into a
monstrous form with the fury of a demon (2). This repetition of words associated with fiendish
or religious concepts such as possessed (2), and fiendish malevolence (2) along with
personified statements such as I knew myself no longer (2) and my original soul seemed, at
once, to take its flight from my body (2) all intersect to represent the progressive
dehumanization of the narrator. The language used had confirmed the narrators transition from
human to monster with a perversely distorted and unrealistic view of basic reality. This powerful
imagery of fiends and fading souls all create an image of the narrator becoming a soulless
demon, which is a monstrosity that possesses no grasp of reason and sanity. The alcoholism
imagery is brought back with the use of gin-nurtured (2) to further complement his descent
into insanity. Symbolism plays a major role in conveying the narrators loss of reason. The penknife (2) typically used to sharpen pens was used to deliberately cut one of its eyes from the
socket! (2) This act not only shows the narrators madness on full display, but it also represents
the idea of sharpness in the sense that it added newfound clarity to the cat. Through one eye, it

can see the true nature of its master; a former human turned soulless creature. The narrator
returns to his original form, experiencing human reactions (I blush, I burn, I shudder) to what
he did, even calling it a damnable atrocity (2). The placement of the previous statements of
violence just before the personal denouncements create the effect of instability on the narrators
part. Furthermore, it shows a flip flop from sane to insane, which indicates that he is unstable and
prone to madness in a predictable future. Insanity and unpredictability go hand in hand.