Book Review:

The Black Cat by Edgar Alan Poe

Edgar Alan Poe is mostly known by his poems and short stories, on his short
stories Edgar uses a very interesting writing technique, called the unreliable author,
which can be seen on his main works such as in “The Raven”. It is no different in the
black cat, where he presents us this series of events from the perspective of a very
troubled person, who committed diverse atrocities and was, apparently, an alcoholic.
The story starts telling us a little about this man’s life, it says that he was a kind
and gentle man who enjoyed the company of pets, but with the passing of time
turned into a bitter and cruel man. In a moment of pure rage he cut off the eye of his
beloved black cat, and yet, in another moment he hanged the poor creature. Shortly
after the creature was hanged, in the same night, a fire started, he and his wife
escaped unharmed. The only thing standing after the fire was a wall that would stand
near the man’s bed, on this wall a strange bas relief could be seen,forming the
image of a cat.
The man then found another black cat who coincidentally had a strange white
spot around his neck, pretty much like a leash. He took the cat in as his pet. With
time this man started to hate the creature, to avoid it, and each day his aversion to
the cat grew. In a given moment he tried to kill it with an axe, but instead killed his
wife. He hid the corpse behind a wall in the basement and the cat disappeared. Time
passed and people started to look for his wife. After a few days the police decided to
check the basement and, as the main character believes, the cat, inside the wall, let
out a terrifying cry that didn't seem like that of a human being nor like any animal. He
was arrested after the police found the body.Being taken away and waiting to be
hanged, the main character, who at this point clearly isn’t the most sane person,
decides to write down this story.
And Edgar Alan Poe, once more on this intriguing story leaves a lot of room to
imagine while yet making us lean to a certain answer. This story as many others he
wrote show how good of an author he was and how his stories are still very popular
nowadays.

Felipe Menchaca Flores Busnello