1. 15 Minutes Independent Reading 

2. Please get out your “The Black Cat” sheet from yesterday

3. Find a partner with the same picture as you
Then, come and get a copy of “The Black Cat” from the front of the room
Spend the next ten minutes completing your sheet
When you are finished, read independently

4. What does the narrator do to try and earn our trust?

5. What disease does the narrator have, which contributes to his horrific actions?

6. What is the name of the original cat?
What Roman god also has this name, and what is he the ruler of?

7. Describe this cat. Then, describe how the narrator kills it.

8. Where does the narrator find the new black cat?

9. How does he feel towards that cat, and how does the cat feel towards him? How do those feelings change?

10. What happens as the narrator is descending the stairs into the basement with the new black cat and his wife?

11. What is the narrator’s first reaction to this incident?
What does he dread most directly afterwards?
What does this tell you about him?

12. Where does he hide the body?

13. How does the narrator reveal his guilt?

14. Why do you think the narrator feels a need to tell us this story?
What (look in the first paragraph) does he want his audience to tell him about the events in this story?

15. Unreliable Narrator: What makes this narrator unreliable?

16. Unreliable Narrators: with your partner, come up with a list of unreliable narrators from other stories
Remember, that could mean that they are:
-are insane
-are too young to understand
-are liars or criminals
-don’t know the whole story
-can only process limited information

17. Take out your “unreliable narrator” story and travel with your partner to find another partner group
You should now be in a group of 4-6
Have each person share his/her unreliable narrator story (you can either read around or else read out loud), then decide whose you would like to share with the class

18. Please return to your original seats

19. What is your opinion on Edgar Allan Poe so far?

20. Based on what you know about him, make a prediction:
Tomorrow we are reading “The Tell-tale Heart”. What do you think this story will be about and why?