Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”

The Altered State of Mind We Revisit... The Altered State of Mind LAST TIME, we read about a narrator who couldn’t bare to live with an old man’s eye staring at him all the time. The old man’s eye would torment him. This continues until he decides to get rid of it by murdering the old man and hiding his body under the floorboards… As the feeling of guilt and paranoia rises, the narrator begins to hear the sound of the old man`s beating heart hidden underneath his very feet… Was it guilt or the Evil Eye…or Was the narrator simply gone mad at the thought of terror coming at him…

We Now Visit the Altered Mind of a Whole New Narrator… This narrator is a humble man. A man who has a beautiful wife, and a beautiful house and a black cat… The narrator adores the cat…but as time progresses..he learns that there is something wrong with the cat… Something wrong that ticks him and tricks him every time the cat is near… * Is it evil? Is it cursed? Why does it torture him so? Is the cat out to get him OR is his alcoholism playing tricks on him again?

Meow !!!!!!!!

“The Black Cat” “The Black Cat”

The Supernatural So, aside from the narrator’s alcoholism… The narrator claims that there are other forces at work…something more haunting and supernatural… What does he say about the black cats at the beginning of this short story?

The Black Cats W I T C H E S I N D I S G U I S E Are Really…

“Pluto” the Cat The narrator’s black cat represents more than just insanity and the man’s paranoia. Pluto’s name represents something quite haunting in the context of this short story…

PLUTO: God of the Underworld & God of the Dead

Analysis Questions 1. How does the description of the cat as “sagacious” contribute to the meaning of the story? 2. Provide TWO quotes from the short story that evokes the theme of perversity. 3. What do you think causes the rise in the narrator`s violent behaviors? 4. After the narrator killed Pluto, his house caught on fire. What does this symbolize? 5. How did the narrator dispose of his wife`s body. What does this symbolize? 6. Provide ONE example of foreshadowing and ONE example of irony. 7. How is The Black Cat similar or different to The Tell Tale Heart ?