Comparing 'The Black Cat' And William Faulkner's A Rose

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” have a plethora of similarities hidden between the lines. This consists of shocking value, frightening scenarios that have mysterious secrets, characters under extreme duress, morbidity and grotesqueness, outward appearances hiding disturbing realities, and twisted psyches. Though these two stories are completely different, in theory, they are quite similar. They each have their own unique storyline, but they also have correlations. In Poe’s short story “The Black Cat,” the narrator, who is nameless, reveals to the readers that he avoids human interaction and prefers interacting with animals. While he preferred interacting with animals, his lack of social

The initial shocker within this story was revealing the fact that Emily was being sexually abused and mentally mistreated for the entirety of her life by her father. This caused her to believe it was morally correct to perform the same acts as he did. These bizarre stories both encapsulate various aspects of secrecy. In Poe’s story, the main frightening scenario that held a mysterious secret was the mystifying fact that the only wall still standing after the narrator’s house burned down was the wall with the painting of Pluto, the black cat. The mysterious secret was the fact that the narrator had hanged Pluto as well as violently cutting his eye out. Likewise, in Faulkner’s story, the frightening scenario that held a mysterious secret was the crayon portrait of her beloved father that was speculated to have been displayed since she was a child. It is assumed it was still displayed to remember her father after his passing because he was all that Emily had. The mysterious secret was the fact that she was abused by her father and he shunned her away from finding a husband because he wanted her for