Carson Hunnewell

English 102

February 19, 2014

Reading response: The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” is about the narrator slowly slipping into insanity

through the consumption of alcohol. The narrator’s way of thinking and addiction not only

destroys himself, but also his beloved wife and pets. In “The Black Cat”- along with many other

of Poe’s short stories- the narrator has internal conflict. Without the influence of alcohol, the

narrator is a kind animal lover and affectionate husband. This state of being is the narrators’

actual self. When alcohol comes into the picture, the narrators’ alter ego comes out. His alter ego

is an evil murderer of both humans and animals. Another symbol I noticed was the white patch of

fur on the second cat. The patch of fur resembles gallows, and symbolizes the narrators’ guilt of

murdering Pluto, and eventually leads him to kill his wife.

Two motifs I noticed in “The Black Cat” were murder and animals. In this particular

story, the two go hand in hand. When the narrator is intoxicated he loses reason, and as a result

kills his cherished cat Pluto. The second cat that appears in the story- whom the narrator

believes to be Pluto’s reincarnation- drives the narrator into a deeper insanity and causes him to

act even more irrationally. The narrator goes from killing a cat to murdering his wife. I believe

that Poe was trying to convey that murder is an animalist instinct. Animals have to kill to

survive, therefore making murder a rational act. This story shows the irrational acts of humans

and the rational acts of animals.

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