The Black Cat

The Black Cat

The man tells us that he and his wife have many pets, including a large black cat named Pluto. This cat is especially fond of the man and the man is fond of the cat. Their friendship lasts for several years, until the man becomes an alcoholic. One night, after coming home drunk, he believes the cat is avoiding him. When he tries to seize it, the panicked cat bites the man, and in a fit of rage, he seizes the animal, pulls a pen-knife from his pocket, and deliberately gouges out the cat's eye.

From that moment onward, the cat flees in terror at the mans approach. At first, the man is remorseful and regrets his cruelty. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. He takes the cat out in the garden one morning and hangs it from a tree, using a nose where it dies. That very night, his house mysteriously catches on fire forcing the man, his wife, and their servant to flee.

The next day, the man returns to the ruins of his home to find, imprinted on the single wall that survived the fire, the figure of a gigantic cat, hanging by its neck from a rope. (Foreshadowing?)

At first, this image terrifies the man, but gradually he determines a logical explanation for it, and begins to miss Pluto. Some time later, he finds a similar cat in a bar. It is the same size and color as the original and is even missing an eye. The only difference is a large white patch on the animal's Brest. The narrator takes it home, but soon begins to hate, even fear the creature. After a time, the white patch of fur begins to take shape and, through the man eyes, forms the shape of the gallows.

Then, one day when the man and his wife are visiting the cellar in their new home, the cat gets under its master's feet and nearly trips him down the stairs. In a fury, the man grabs an axe and tries to kill the cat but is stopped by his wife. Enraged, he buries the axe in her skull instead. To conceal her body he removes bricks from a part in the wall, places her body there, and repairs the hole. When the police came to investigate, they find nothing and the narrator goes free. The cat, which he intended to kill as well, has gone missing.

Then police come and try to find out who murdered his wife. They search for many days until, on the last day of the investigation; the man accompanies the police into the cellar. There, completely confident in his own safety, the man comments on the sturdiness of the building and raps upon the wall he had built around his wife's body. A wailing sound fills the room. The alarmed police tear down the wall and find the wife's corpse, and on her head, to the horror of the man, is the screeching black cat. As he words it: "I had walled the monster up within the tomb!"

Setting:

The narrator’s house

Themes:

Alcoholism/ drunkenness

Guilt (the end of the story is like the tell tale heart.)

Symbols:

The pen knife

The eye

The nose/gallows

The black cat (superstition?)