The black cat

by Edgar. A. Poe

1) Put the paragraphs in order.

2 I have always loved animals. When I was young, we always had many animals in our
house, so I used to spend most of my days playing with them and taking care of them. As the years
passes, I grew into a quiet, gentle man, and my love for animals grew too. I found that they were
more friendly, more honest than most men. Animals were always my best friends.

1 I know you will not believe this story. Only a madman could hope that you would believe
it – and I am not mad. But as I am going to die tomorrow, I would like to tell my story to the world
today. Perhaps some day , somebody more calm and less excitable than me, will be able to explain
it.

5 For several years Pluto and I were the best friends, but during this time my life slowly
changed. I became a heavy drinker, and my need for alcohol soon grew into a terrible disease. I was
often angry and violent. I began shouting at my wife, and I even started to hit her, My animals, too,
felt the change in me. I stopped taking care of them and sometimes I was even cruel to them. But I
was never cruel to Pluto. As time passed, my disease grew worse, and soon even Pluto was not safe
from my violence.

4 This cat, whom we called Pluto, was a large black cat. He was a beautiful animal, and he was
also very clever. I loved Pluto more than I loved all my other animals. I wanted to do everything for
him myself, so I never left my wife take care of him. I used to play with him and give him his food,
and he followed me everywhere I went.

3 I got married when I was quite young. Luckily, my wife loved animals too, and she used to
buy me many animals as presents. In facts, our house was always full of animals- we had birds, fish,
a dog, chickens and a cat.

2) Complete the chart. Characters’ development.

Pluto His wife The male The second black

protagonist cat

At the
beginning

In the
middle

In the end
3) Answer

a) How was the man’s life? How was his relationship with animals?
He grew up with animals, because all his life his family had animals,
he was a lovely person with them, but later he turned into a bad and
alcoholic person.
b) What was his favourite pet? How did they get on?
His favorite pet was a cat called Pluto, at first they were so close , they
were best friends, and the cat followed him everywhere, but suddenly
the man started to change because of the alcohol and he turned selfish
and violent so the cat began to feel uncomfortable with him, so they
weren´t close friends anymore.
c) What caused the man’s change?
He started to drink alcohol and he was not the lovely and kind person
anymore.
d) How did he react with Pluto and the rest?
He turned violent and selfish with his wife and he started to do horrible thing to his animals
e) Why did he cut out Pluto’s eye?
One night he was full of drink and he came home late, then the cat was not pleased to see
him, and he was scared, and the man took the cat, but pluto bit him, so he turned into
another and he took a knife from his pocket and cut one of his eyes.
f) Why did he finally hang the poor cat?
Because the cat was not lovely with the man anymore and he started to feel angry with that.
g) How did he feel after hanging the cat?
He was very sad, because he knew that what he have done was a evil thing.
h) Why did he adopt the second cat?
Because he felt sad about losing the animal, so he started to look for another cat in the poor
sites of the city, and one night he was drinking and he found a cat that seemed like pluto so
he took him to his house.
i) Why did he feel like killing him?
Because he starte to dislike the animal more and more, because the cat was very lovely to
him and the more the cat was lovely and kind with him, the more the man hated the cat.
j) What was the turning point of the story?
When the new cat came into de man´s life because it was like a curse
k) How does the shape of a cat get into the new plaster?
While the man was hiding the body of his wife I think
l) does the man find a new cat? Why is he afraid of it?
He couldn´t find the cat, until the police came to the place where his wife was and the cat
was there.

m) Where do the police find the man's dead wife? How do they find her?
Because the police came into the cellar to look for his wife and at first they didn´t find nothing but
suddenly they listened a knock from the walls and there was the cat with his wife .

4) Complete with information from the story.

1) Since the man’s need for alcohol grew into a terrible disease, he turned into an evil
person
2) When the man was young he got married and love the animals he had gold fiish,
rabbits, dogs.
3) He and his wife loved animals so she bought them the most beautiful animals
4) When Pluto bit the man’s hand, he cut one of his eye
5) The man hanged the poor animal form a tree with the gallows
6) That same night he woke up suddenly because his house was burning
7) People were surprised because they saw the black shape of the cat in the wall
8) The second black cat had a white mark which resulted to be shape of pluto hanging
in the gallows
9) When his wife tried to save the cat He hid his wife
With the axe in the top of her head and he felt happy then
10) When the police was about to leave, he knock in the part of the wall that his wife
was.
11) After the horrible cry, the police they all ran dawn on the stairs with his mouths
open and began breaking the wall.
12) The man realized that he was going to be taken to the gallows for his commitment.
13) The mark on the cat’s chest represented the scene of pluto when the man put him in
the gallows