"The Black Cat"

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the short story written in 1843 by Edgar Allan Poe, titled "The Black Cat". The paper studies the narrator's behavior in a psychological framework in order to understand what prompted the narrator to commit a hideous crime. The paper further discusses how the narrator tries to manipulate the reader in an attempt to win his sympathy by alternating between narrative time and story time.

From the Paper:

"What is really interesting about the narrator is his subtle explanations of his behavior and the murder of his wife that we get from certain lines in the story without the narrator actually intending to reveal much. There is a small passage that gives away narrator's troubled psyche and his real reason for killing his wife. It occurs in the first part of the story when the narrator tells us: "From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions" (850). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Amper, Susan. "Untold Story: The Lying Narrator in 'The Black Cat.'" Studies in Short Fiction 29 (1992): 475-85.
• Ewen, Robert B. An Introduction to Theories of Personality. 2nd ed. Orlando: Academic Press, 1984.
• Gargano, James W. "'The Black Cat': Perverseness Reconsidered." Texas Studies in Language and Literature 2 (1960): 172-78.
• Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Trans. Jane E. Lewin. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1983.
• Heller, Terry. The Delights of Terror: An Aesthetics of the Tale of Terror. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1987.

More papers on "The Black Cat":

• Analytical Essay # 36413 : "The Black Cat"
• Book Review # 95705 : "Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat"
• Term Paper # 95700 : "'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allen Poe"

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