The Black Cat - Symbolism

The white cat was also used to foreshadow the passing away of Grandma. Foreshadowing was used to allow the audience to realize that Grandma would still make an impression even after her death. “I will always be with you, Little Sek-Lung, but in a different way… you’ll see.” (115).

White Dog symbolizes the main characters’ innocent past. Although he is old and ailing, he has, according to the woman, “’been a good white dog,’” (11), and he is obedient to the woman. After the woman sees the evacuation order, she makes plans for the family pets. She gives the cat to the neighbors, and frees the bird. However, White Dog is too old for anyone to want him, and he would suffer if he had to fend for himself, so the woman feels she has no other choice but to kill him. White Dog displays naivety in his oblivion to what the woman is

	The second black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s guilt. The night after the narrator’s house caught on fire, he went to a bar where he saw black cat two. Black cat two resembled black cat one in every aspect except one. The finding of black cat two is symbolic of the night in which the narrator had came home from a bar toxicated. When the narrator began to leave the bar, black cat two began to follow him and this is symbolic of the guilt that follows the narrator. The narrator noticed that black cat two resembled

To conclude this argument it is very clear that the actions that took place in, “The black cat,” are the narrators fault. It is on account of him being an alcoholic, being in a poor mental state, and being abusive to his wife and pets that the fault lies in the

Symbolism is used in many ways and writers use symbolism to “enhance their writing.” It can give their work “more richness and color and can make the meaning of the work deeper.” In literary work the actions of the characters, words, action, place, or event has a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story. The reader needs to look see the little things like a dove symbolizes peace, or like the red rose stands for romance. Mostly everything can have a symbolism meaning to it. For instance the flag symbolizes freedom and the stars represent the states. Even some signs are symbols like when a beaker has a skull with a bones placed like an ‘x’ behind it symbolizes that it’s toxic or bad. When people see the red light when driving that’s

The storyteller begins the story by stating from an early age he has had an obsession with animals. Poe states, “This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure.” (Poe) This statement is evidence of the insanity the narrator experienced at a very young age. He goes on to explain that he and his wife have many domesticated animals, including Pluto, a large beautiful black cat. He describes the mutual fondness between him and the cat. This relationship between him and the cat, is strange. For years they have a growing friendship, until he started drinking alcohol in excess. The narrator goes on to explain how one night after getting completely intoxicated, the cat panicked and bit him. This causes the author to become angry and in a psychotic fit of rage, he takes a knife and cuts out one of the cat’s eyes. After this encounter, the cat fears him, and tries to avoid him at all cost. In the beginning, the storyteller is regretful and feels remorseful for the cruelty. But soon we see the narrator’s insanity expressed when Poe states, “But this feeling soon gave place

I believe that the cat was the only thing that showed her love and attention. Her only son, had a family of his own, her grandchildren were older now, and she felt like she was not important to them anymore, and the children?s mother was involved with the baby. By bringing the cat, she felt like she would not be lonely. The reader can also tell that the woman is extremely prejudice. She refers to the black child as a ?cute little pickaninny? and a nigger.

Skimming the surface of the story, an abundance of symbols can be signaled out, but a recurrence of symbols is very important. One of the most prevalent symbols found in this story is the darkness of Senora Consuelo's old colonial mansion. The house is so dark the characters must learn to maneuver by sound and touch. The darkness sets the tone for the whole story. Senora Consuelo's room is not bathed in light but filled with "perpetual

Black symbolizes death. The black box for drawing and the slip of paper with a black pot are symbols tend to the ending. The one who gets the “big price” is Tessie Hutchinson who disputes the drawing twice. She is the one not following the rule, doubts the ritual. And the purpose that the villagers doing this drawing by forgotten the point of it, is to get rid of people fall off the road, to keep their village in a traditional way, in their eyes.

One of the more pronounced things in “The Black Cat” is the constant mood switching. One moment everything will be peaceful and happy, the next, the narrator will be stabbing a cat in the eye. Behavioral changes are one of the most notable effects of alcohol, Poe including these changes in the story emphasize the importance of it to the plot, and to the overall theme. Poe likely wrote literature to give an idea of what it’s like to be in his shoes: to suffer from an extreme addiction to alcohol. As it says in the story, “Pluto -- this was the cat's name -- was my favorite pet and playmate… Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character -- through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance -- had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse.” This sentence serves as a transition between the mood of delightfulness to the mood of terror, which can easily be seen by reading the rest of that portion of the story.

In “The Black Cat,” the man was married to a patient and caring woman. They acquired another cat that, according to the man, looked remarkably like Pluto (709). One day, the cat almost tripped the man while they were walking down a flight of stairs. This “exasperated” the man “to madness” (Poe 709). He lifted an axe and “aimed a blow at the animal,” (Poe 709).

Throughout all the short stories and poems wrote by Edgar Allan Poe, some connections can be made on the content. The Black Cat, and The Raven, are two narratives wrote by Poe, that unveil the themes and symbols he often uses in his work. Poe is on the mysterious side, but he is also taking the life he is given, and making his narratives raw and realist by some degree. Poe uses techniques that left him express his imagination through writing. There are many different ideas and questions rising from all his work. The Black Cat and The Raven, are two narratives that use similar themes and symbols that allow readers to receive a small connection of the madness inside of the narrators.

For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him”. He abused all the other animals and even his wife but he never hurt Pluto. The first black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s evil heart. It shows favouritism and obsession with black cats from the start this story, later after he had murdered Pluto, he still went out and realised when he saw the second cat that it is what he was looking for. “What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes.”. The second black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s guilt. This fact about the cat made him hate more simply because he felt guilty of what he had done to Pluto. His guilt and religious torment gives us an insight to his insanity.

The atmosphere of this exposition is clearly foreboding: "the dark clouds, broken chimneys, unused street, solitary cat, and dead air" all prove ominous and reflect the sordid ruling mood. Failed culture and solitary of aimless women ("a cat moved itself in and out of railing") not knowing exactly what to do about their predicaments in which

Having moved into a new house, the narrator happens across a black cat, which then follows him home. Nerves rattled, the narrator does his best to avoid the cat. When that fails he tries to kill it, accidentally killing his wife in the process. After sealing his wife's body into the basement wall, he is interviewed by the police. Not unlike in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator of “The Black Cat” cracks under the pressure of his guilt and gives himself up. Symbolism and suspense make “The Black Cat” worth reading.