The Black Cat Research Paper

Often is literature critics argue wether Throughout literature many critics like to argue whether the narrators of the horror genre are haunted are insane. In a number of Edgar Allen Poe’s works, there is also a question as to whether or not the narrators are insane or haunted by supernatural forces. They are clearly haunted, which is evident by numerous circumstances in the stories. These circumstances are seen by others, which negates the argument that they are imagining them. An example of this is "The Black Cat" where it is clear that the narrator is haunted, such as the fire leaving strange burn marks, characteristics of the new cat, and the loud screech coming from the corpse of Pluto the cat. characteristics of the second cat, and the loud screech from behind the wall.

The most striking example of haunting are the burn marks which appear after a random fire. In “The Black Cat”, the narrator states, “ On the night of the day on which this most cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire” (Poe 6). That quoteation meanss that the night of the hanging of Pluto the narrator's the narrator's house burnt down. In the fire only the wife, a servant, and the narrator lived and all the other pets died (Poe 6). This is important because it is saying that Pluto is saving the other pets from the narrator’s abuse by killing them and punishing the narrator at the same time. After the fire many people gathered around outside of the house and noticed a figure of a cat burned onto the wall. The quotation means that the pets were sort of saved from the abuse with the fire that Pluto started even though they ended up dying The fact that others are there and see these markings prove the narrator is not insane because he is the only person who sees this strange burning on the