Evelyn Jaskowiak

Period 5
Perception versus Reality
Its one thing to confuse cops and robbers but its another thing entirely to think
your dead cat came back for revenge. Perception versus reality is when someone
perceives something about someone else or something else but the reality of it is much
different. The narrator in the story The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe pokes out the
eye of a poor cat when he was drunk. Then later he kills the poor old cat because it
reminds him of how evil he was. The next day his house burned down and there is a cat
shape mark on the fireplace. After that he finds a new cat that is missing a eye. This cat
haunts him till one night he tries to kill the new cat. His wife tries to interfere and he
turns on her and kills her instead. Miss. Fairchild from The Hearts and Hands by O
Henry sees an old friend she believes he is a cop at the end of the story you find out
that the friend is actually the criminal not the cop. The narrator from the story The Black
Cat perception is farther away from reality compared to Miss. Fairchild perception.
The narrator from The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe shows that his perception
is farther away from the reality because he believes his dead cat has come back to life.
In the text it says,
My feeling of the animal were mixed, however, because on his first morning in
our home, my eyes, which now were not clouded by drink as they had been the
night. I picked him up, noticed something strange about the animal. He, like Pluto
before him, had only one eye! My wife only felt pity for the because of his
handicap, but I began to feel a strange fear and revulsion upon seeing the
animal (Poe 171).
His perception was that his dead cat had came back from the dead to haunt him. In

reality the cat is a new cat that has nothing to do with it but the memory is haunting him
not the cat. Furthermore dead cats can not come back to life its just his imagination.
As one can see, the narrator is far removed from reality.

The narrator from The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe shows that his perception
is farther away from the reality when he believes that the cat is consciously tripping him.
In the text on page 172 it says,
I couldnt walk from one room to another without the damned cat running under
my feet, almost tripping me. At the time I was convinced that I would go through
life suffering the affections of stupid cats, which, for some reason, were
especially attracted to me.
His perception of his cat purposefully tripping is different from the reality of the cat just
following him around because the cat loves him and the cat is just excited so he runs
next to or under the narrator. When his perception is different than reality it causes him
to kill his pour old cat because he thinks the cat is trying to hurt him but in reality the cat
just loves him.
Other people may think that Miss Fairchild from The Hearts and Hands by O
Henry is farther removed from reality. In the text, Miss Fairchild sees a old friend she
believes he is a cop and has chained himself to a criminal so he doesnt get away. At
the end of the story you find out that the friend is actually the criminal and the person
Miss Fairchild thought was the criminal is actually the marshall. In the text on page ___
it says, Young! exclaimed the first speaker, Why--Oh! didn't you catch on? Say--did
you ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?" Her perception is
that her friend is the cop but in reality he is the criminal going to jail.

However the narrator from the Black Cat is far more removed from reality than
Miss Fairchild. For example, he believes that killing the cat will get rid of his evilness.
The narrator's perception is demonstrated below.
I knew that I had no reason to hate the cat, and that I was responsible for its
deformity, but I was powerless to control the feeling within me. I shuddered
whenever I saw Pluto, The black cat, which would stare at me with that empty
eye, constantly reminded me of my cruelty. Finally I could take no more. One
morning I placed a rope around Plutos neck and shamelessly hung him from a
tree limb in our backyard.(Poe 172)
The narrator perceives that the cat was making him evil so he thought killing the cat
would get rid of his evil. In reality he was making himself evil and killing the innocent cat
would make him more evil not less. Therefore, the narrator is much farther removed
from reality than Miss Fairchild.
The narrator from The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe shows that his perception
is farther away from the reality because he believes his dead cat has come back to life,
he believes that the cat is consciously tripping him. And he believes that killing the cat
will get rid of his evil. The perception of the narrator from the story The Black Cat is the
farthest away from reality even farther then Miss. Fairchild from The Hearts and
Hands. Next time you make a big decision back sure your perception and the reality
are the same because if they arent it can turn into a big mess just look at what
happened in The Black Cat