ABID, BAI ZAIDA L.

LIT1N 10:30-12:00
Prof. Bernardo Chua September 17, 2020

Identifying a Literary Research Topic

 
1.     Name a short story writer (American, British, or Filipino*) that you would like
to write about.
 
 Edgar Allan Poe
 
*Filipino writer who writes/wrote in English.
 
2.     Identify the short story he or she wrote that you would like to write about.
 
 “The Black Cat”
 
 
3.     Surf the net and look for at least ten critical essays that present an analysis,
interpretation, or evaluation of the literary work you have selected. List the
bibliographic information for each source.
 
 e.g. Hoffman, S. K. (2015). Individuation and character development in the
fiction of Shirley Jackson. In Shirley Jackson. New York: Facts On File. Retrieved
September 13, 2020, from online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?
aid=276872&itemid=WE54&articleId=380329.
 
 
a.     Raphael Wall, 2020, Stylistic Devices: An Analysis of "The Black Cat" by
Edgar Allan Poe published in 1845, Munich, GRIN Verlag,
https://www.grin.com/document/901460
 
b.      Wang, Bella. Jordan Reid Berkow ed. "Poe’s Short Stories The Black
Cat Summary and Analysis". GradeSaver, 29 July 2009 Web. 15 September
2020.
 
c.      Anderson, W. (2019). Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat: Summary &
Analysis. St. Rosemary Institution From: https://schoolworkhelper.net/edgar-
allan-poes-the-black-cat-summary-analysis/
 
d.     Kutlar, Y. D. (n.d.). In between Illusion and Reality: An Analysis of Edgar
Allan Poe's The Black Cat.
 
e.      Bliss, A. V. (2010) Household Horror: Domestic Masculinity in Poe’s The
Black Cat. Retrieved from:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/EXPL.67.2.96-99
 
f.        George, A. (2019)The Real Meaning Behind Poe’s “The Black Cat”
Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@andrewjoegeorge/the-real-meaning-
behind-poes-the-black-cat-894eaa485e8f
 
g.      Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley:
http://www.openculture.com/2015/09/aubrey-beardsleys-macabre-
illustrations-of-edgar-allan-poes-short-stories-1894.html
 
h.      Masu. (November, 2019 8). The many interpretations of Poe’s “The
Black Cat”, and an analysis of its narration style.
https://medium.com/@masu.ake/the-many-interpretations-of-poes-the-black-
cat-and-an-analysis-of-its-narration-style-3791e0398eb5

 
i.       Lombardi, E. (2019, August 10). Edgar Allen Poe's Dark Tale of
Descent Into Madness. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-black-cat-themes-and-
symbols-738847

 
j.       Elswick, Morgan E.. "The Unspeakable: Fearing Madness in Poe's "The
Black Cat"." The Downtown Review. Vol. 2. Iss. 2 (2016). Available at:
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/tdr/vol2/iss2/2
 

4.     Based on the critical essays you have listed, briefly summarize what literary
critics/researchers have found about the short story you have selected.

“The Black Cat” remains one among the Edgar Allan Poe’s most
mystifying and horrifying tales because the narrator admits also describes terrible
preceding happenings earlier the narrator’s upcoming punishment. The story is
contained by, foolishness and it is opened through dreadfulness not as good as
the further stories of Poe. Apparently, the short story discussed about the entirety
of the cat’s supernatural powers, the story’s forerunners, also its influence to their
bosses. Underneath the surprising hiding place, foolishness is obtained for the
reason that the actuality after the narrator’s approaches and whereabouts.
Oftentimes Poe wishes to surprise, wonder, and disturb his audience with
macabre underground and gothic stories, but then again some amongst the
foremost fears he emphasized in “The Black Cat” is foolishness, a theme so
feared it cannot even be directly titled for the reason that the plunge behind the
narrator’s wrongdoings.
In order to convey the horrific atmosphere of suspense and horror and
make the story more alive, Edgar Allan Poe skilfully uses gothic elements and
employs numerous stylistic devices in text, syntax, lexis, punctuation and sound.
 Discussing the style of this story, Poe vividly presents elements of the
supernatural, the evil side of attribute and madness, which place “The Black Cat”
within the gothic genre. Thrill, suspense and horror are often evoked by gothic
elements. The black cats living with the narrator appear to be supernatural.
Another typical topic in gothic pieces of writing is that the evil side of the attribute
and therefore the appearance of madness. The narrator claims that he's not mad
at the start of the story, whereas obviously he is mad because to his
transformation from a tender-hearted and a real animal lover to an abuser and
killer of his pets and his beloved wife.
Poe applies a powerful form of stylistic devices to form and present an
authentic portrait of the characters, describe the setting and events or evoke the
gothic mood in “The Black Cat”. What's more is that Poe uses several other
comparing stylistic devices to accentuate the tragic atmosphere. He applies a
simile to depict the changing perception of the narrator. Poe enriches this story
with images by comparing his thoughts and behaviour with tragic things. He
applies numerous metaphors to depict the narrator’s change of the inner world
and distance himself from his guilt in consuming an more than alcohol and
therefore the vicious deeds that he knows will happen. 
 
5.     What research project can you do based on what researchers/critics have
not done yet?

As I have observed in the analysis, interpretation and critics made by the

researchers’, I came up with the idea of having research project on what are the
crimes and motives of the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”.
Although American Writer Poe is mainly popular for his tales of mystery and the
macabre, he also contributed to the genre of crime fiction in a most impressive
way. The Black Cat, nonetheless, falls into the general category of crime fiction.
There are many literary critics, who have examined and analysed the text and
they have focused on completely different aspects though, arriving at results
which are often quite incompatible with each other. That is why it is interesting to
have a research project on that, the crimes and motives of the narrator to dell
deeper with it.