Before I get into what my thoughts were of the Black Cat, I would like to explain why I am writing about the Black Cat. I am doing an English course in university, (No shit, right?). In this course, which is about Critical Thinking and Writing, I have a 'Journal' assignment in which I am to write what my thoughts were about 8 different pieces of poetry and prose we do in the course. There are no specifications as to what we write, as long as it is our own, not a plot summary, and it has a decent introduction and conclusion. Having just started a blog recently, I figured it would have been a cool idea to make my blog into my project (at least till I finish it) and write my 'journals' here. I can be creative as I want to be so it really opens it up and in my terms , deems it acceptable for my 'blog'. Now that that is out of the way I can move into what I thought of the Black Cat... which wasn't a whole lot.
I know very little about Edgar Allan Poe, except what I have heard class, the story 'Tell Tale Heart' (which I think most everyone knows about) and some sort of ghost story about a candle or something that was read to me by my friend Will, one time in Katimavik. (That one is a little hazy). Although from the very little knowledge that I have of this guy, I'm going to assume, that in most of his stories someone is murdered, they are then cased in a wall, or floor, and then later found again due to the own murderers guilt. Yet, each story there underlies a different theme, about something that would seem so abstract that only Mr. E.A Poe himself would be able to figure out, then under a pseudonym he would broadcast it out to everyone so the word gets around what the story is suggesting.
Story Discussion group:
"Man murders wife, hides her in a wall, then after the police are about to leave, concluding he is innocent, he taps wall where the corpse was located, it then breaks through, revealing it to everyone. What do you think the theme is? I think it is about the guilt of ones conscience making them do irrational things."
"No, not even close. This is obviously about a man suffering from alcohol abuse and this story is a social critique about the dangers of alcoholism."
Obviously, I am being a little bit sarcastic here and I have not told you the whole story. It is about a man, who loves animals, and has a lovely black cat; which if one was very perceptive they would have concluded the story had a black cat, but only if they were very perceptive. However, due to his alcoholism, his demeanor changes over time and he abuses this cat eventually killing it by hanging. This grows into something much greater when he brutally murders his wife, when she arrested his attempt to kill a second cat.
With that all said and done, I did enjoy this story, not so much for the story itself, but the power he used in his words. '...into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and buried the axe into her brain.' I think that gets the point across much better than: " He killed her by hitting her in the head with an axe.". His word choice in the entire story really gives it life, especially for the Gothic era in which it was wrote. He gives the story a darkness that, I guess, could only be created by the man himself.
'The Black Cat' was a well written story, with a good underlying theme about alcohol abuse and it's dangers. I would have thought that the theme was to do with the act of confession, seeming, in the story, he wrote this on death row, in hopes to 'unburden his soul'. But whose to say who is right, as long as you can support your argument, it could be about anything. I believe I would read other works by Edgar Allan Poe, but not for the story itself; it would be for how he writes the story. All his stories may be very similar but at least his word choice keeps things interesting.
If you wanted to read the story, go to:
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/24/
I don't think I am breaking the law by putting that there...
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