Plot Summary of 'The Black Cat'

'The Black Cat' is told from the perspective of an insane narrator who, in his own words, does not expect
the reader to believe him. He tells the reader up front that he is scheduled to die the following day, but
the reader doesn't find out why until the end of the story.

After setting up his story from this perspective, the man tells the reader about a cat named Pluto he
used to have as a pet. He describes Pluto as a remarkably large, beautiful animal, entirely black. The
narrator's wife jokes that the cat might be a witch in disguise, given its unusual intelligence. The narrator
and Pluto have a close bond. He takes care of Pluto, and Pluto follows him everywhere around the
house. It is a very tender relationship.

Then, everything goes wrong. The narrator, an alcoholic, starts getting angry at everyone. He mistreats
his wife and their other animals, but he never hurts Pluto. But one night, the narrator comes home
drunk and thinks Pluto is avoiding him. He grabs the cat, who bites him. In retaliation, the narrator cuts
out one of the cat's eyes.

After he sleeps off his drunken state, the narrator is horrified about his actions. It is not enough to get
him to stop drinking, though. The cat's eye socket heals, but Pluto and the narrator no longer have a
good relationship. Pluto starts to avoid the narrator all the time. Instead of feeling remorseful, the
narrator just feels irritated at the cat's behavior.

The narrator hangs the cat 'in cold blood' from a tree. That night, his house burns down. The narrator,
his wife, and their servant all escape the fire unharmed, but the fire destroys his home and all of his
possessions. When the narrator returns to the ashes later, he sees the figure of a cat on the only
surviving wall.

Months pass. The narrator sees a cat remarkably similar to Pluto, except that on his chest is a white
patch. The cat follows him home. At first, the narrator likes the cat, but soon he can't stand the cat at all,
especially after he notices that one of its eyes is missing.

The more he hates the cat, the more the cat likes him. The narrator cannot bring himself to hurt the cat
because he is afraid of it. The white shape on its chest morphs into a gallows, a direct reminder of his
crime against Pluto.
Eventually, the narrator is driven so mad that he tries to kill the cat with an axe. His wife intervenes, and
the narrator ends up killing his wife. He decides to conceal the body inside his house, behind the wall of
the basement.

The narrator looks for the cat, but it is missing. For three nights, he sleeps undisturbed by the cat. Then,
on the fourth day, police come to his house to ask questions about his wife's disappearance. During their
investigation, the narrator raps on the wall he has rebuilt to conceal his wife's corpse. The noise of him
knocking causes the cat, which had accidentally become sealed inside the wall, to howl, alerting the
police to the presence of the narrator's wife