THE BLACK CAT
1. Synopsis of Story
The story is presented as
a first-person narrative using
an unreliable narrator. He
is a condemned man at the outset of the story. The narrator tells us that from
an early age he has loved animals. He and his wife have many pets, including a
large black cat named Pluto. This cat is especially fond of the narrator and
vice versa. Their mutual friendship lasts for several years, until the narrator
becomes an alcoholic.
One night, after coming home intoxicated, he believes the cat is avoiding him.
When he tries to seize it, the panicked cat bites the narrator, 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 his master's approach. At first, the narrator 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, where it dies. That very night, his house
mysteriously catches fire, forcing the narrator, his wife and their servant to
flee.
The next day, the
narrator 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.
At first, this image
terrifies the narrator, but gradually he determines a logical explanation for
it, that someone outside had thrown the dead cat into the bedroom to wake him
up during the fire, and begins to miss Pluto. Some time later, he finds a
similar cat in a tavern. 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
chest. The narrator takes it home, but soon begins to loathe, even fear the
creature. After a time, the white patch of fur begins to take shape and, to the
narrator, forms the shape of the gallows.
Then, one day when the
narrator 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 kills her with the axe instead. To conceal her body he removes bricks from a
protrusion in the wall, places her body there, and repairs the hole. A few days
later, when the police show up at the house to investigate the wife's
disappearance, they find nothing and the narrator goes free. The cat, which he
intended to kill as well, has also gone missing.
On the last day of the
investigation, the narrator accompanies the police into the cellar. They still
find nothing. Then, completely confident in his own safety, the narrator
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
narrator, is the screeching black cat. As he words it: "I had walled the
monster up within the tomb!".
2. Intrinsic Element of Story
A.
Character
- The Narrator (unnamed character)
- The narrator’s wife
- Pluto
- The second cat
B.
Characterization
- The Narrator = is an abusive, bully and a murderer
He made home a living hell for his wife, pets, and
himself. He's writing to us from his prison cell, on the eve of his scheduled
death by hanging. In addition to the details of his heinous crimes, he reveals
his psychological transformation from nice-guy to villain. He tells us that
around the time he murdered his wife, all "good" had been driven from
his personality
And he doesn't seem to be confessing out of a sense of
guilt. Over the course of the story, the narrator provides several reasons for
his various behaviors. But mostly he seems to be blaming the cat (or cats) for
all his problems. According the narrator, it's the cat's fault that the
domestic scene of the story ultimately turned so foul. This seems to
be his real point in telling us the story.
- The narrator’s wife = kind, giving, loyal, and even heroic at the end
The narrator says she has "in a high degree, that
humanity of feeling which had once been [his] distinguishing
characteristic." She is a highly sympathetic character, in her own right.
The fact that the narrator abuses her, and her beloved pets, makes her even more
sympathetic, and makes us think that the man is a complete bad guy.
- Pluto = black cat, large, fuzzy, and sagacious to an astonishing degree.
Sagacious is a cool word to know. It means extremely
wise, intelligent, and perceptive. Over the years Pluto moves from a pampered
pet to an abused beast. He is blinded and ultimately murdered by his owner.
- The second cat = black cat, looks almost exactly like Pluto.
He's big, black, and missing an eye. The only
difference is the white spot. The spot starts off innocently enough, but then
grows into an image of the gallows, if the narrator can be
believed.
C.
Setting
- Place
The Narrator’s home.
- Time
Unknown, when and where (the map of
Narrator’s house) the story happened.
There was no specific time for the
story.
- Atmosphere
Frightful and mysterious, because The
Narrator did a bad action to his cat and his wife, and then he hid it from
other people.
D.
Plot
- Initial action
§ Exposition
When the
narrator tells us that from an early age he has loved animals. He and his wife
have many pets, including a large black cat named Pluto. This cat is especially
fond of the narrator and vice versa. Their mutual friendship lasts for several
years, until the narrator becomes an alcoholic.
§ Inciting moment
When the narrator coming
home intoxicated, he believes the cat is avoiding him. When he tries to seize
it, the panicked cat bites the narrator, 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.
§ Rising action
When the Narrator killed Pluto in the
morning at the garden with hung it from the tree.
- Middle action
§ Complication
When the narrator’s house catches on
fire in the night after murdered Pluto in the morning. The narrator, his wife,
and his servant escape the flames. All the family's financial security goes up
in smoke. And then, when the Narrator found the similar cat with Pluto in the
tavern and he took it at home.
§ Climax
When The Narrator killed his wife,
because she stopped him to kill the cat which similar with Pluto. And then to
conceal her body, he removes bricks from a
protrusion in the wall, places her body there, and repairs the hole.
- Last action
§ Falling action
When the police show up at
the house to investigate the wife's disappearance, they find nothing and the
narrator goes free. The cat, which he intended to kill as well, has also gone
missing.
§ Denouement
When the
police found the Narrator’s wife corpse with the black cat on her head by tear
down the wall. At the time, the Narrator said, that he had walled the monster up within the
tomb.
3. Extrinsic Element of Story
A.
Author = Edgar Allan Poe
Author’s Biography
Edgar Allan Poe was born on 19 January, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, to actors David Poe, Jr.
and Elizabeth Arnold. Edgar was the middle child, with an elder brother Henry
and a younger sister Rosalie. When he was just a year old, his father abandoned
the family, and two years later, his mother passed away from tuberculosis.
After her death, Henry went and lived with his grandparents, and Rosalie was
taken in by another family. Edgar was adopted by a wealthy Scottish tobacco
merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan from Richmond,
Virginia. It is said that, as a mark of respect, Edgar took up 'Allan' as a
middle name, and henceforth came to be known as Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe's biography is an account of a great
man's life. He gave the world the first detective or horror genre, and created
the concept of short stories. Some of Edgar's famous writings are:
§ The Raven: The Raven is a narrative poem published
in 1845, and is probably one of the best-known poems of the nineteenth century
§ The Fall of the House of Usher: The House of Usher
was published in 1839, and is one of the best works by Edgar Poe.
§ The Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Murders in the
Rue Morgue was published in 1841, and is said to be the first detective story
ever.
§ The Tell-Tale Heart: The Tell-Tale Heart was
published in 1843, and is still regarded as one of the best Gothic fiction
stories ever written.
On October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found drunk
and unconscious on the streets of Baltimore, in someone else's clothes. He was
taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died four days later on October 7, 1849. He was just 40 at the
time. Although different reasons were given for his death, the actual cause
still remains a mystery.
B.
Social condition
At the time, people who did a crime, tried to hid
their evils from other people with did the strange action. And that action made
a mystery in the middle of society.
4. Moral Message
The moral messages that we get in this
story are:
- First, we must love everything around us, not only for human, but also animals and plant.
- Second, don’t ruin or destroy ours without clear reason.
- Third, no matter how good we hide our crime, on a certain day it will be known by other people.
5. Conclusion
The fire that destroys the narrator’s
house symbolizes the narrator’s "almost complete moral
disintegration". The only remainder is the impression of Pluto upon
the wall, which represents his unforgivable and incorrigible sin.
Reference
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