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What Is The Black Cat Unreliable

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1. The narrator of “The Black Cat” is unreliable because of his schizophrenic state and extreme alcoholism. Throughout the story, the narrator can be perceived as having schizophrenia, as he experiences delusions and hallucinations. A cat is incapable of being resurrected, yet, the narrator continues to see the dead cat numerous times. Near the story's conclusion, the readers begin to truly understand the extreme change in his state of mind and growth in his schizophrenic state. “Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence.” (Page 1) When the readers are first introduced to the narrator, they become aware of his fondness towards alcohol. As the story progresses, so does his addiction towards …show more content…

A theme expressed in “The Black Cat” is how guilt can manifest itself in subconscious ways. This was demonstrated throughout the story, with the narrator drinking his sorrows away and sheltering a cat resembling the one he murdered. Shortly after the narrator murdered Pluto, his first cat, he consumed excess alcohol to drown his sorrows and rid his memory of the once beloved pet he murdered. “I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.” (Page 2) This turned out unsuccessful, as memories of the sinful deed returned. Not wanting to admit how remorseful or guilty he was, he henceforth, tried to justify his actions with meaningless ideas. Particularly, when he tried to justify his murderous actions by claiming that he only committed the action simply because he was not supposed to. Nevertheless, the returned memories meant that subconsciously, he felt guilty for the …show more content…

The setting in The Black Cat is not as significant as it is in Poe’s other short stories. However, there are few times where there are detailed descriptions of the surrounding setting. Through the course of most of their lives, the couple in the story lived in a magnificent mansion with their pets. Only one chamber was slightly described. The wall that was in this mansion was momentous, since it foreshadowed how the cat was going to die later on, and the readers could predict how important walls were in the story. Whereas, after the house burnt, they moved to a lesser house. Within the house, the attic was critical, where the narrator would later bury his wife and cat. The revelation of what was behind the wall was what got the narrator caught. Poe did not add plenty of details regarding the settings, due to the importance of other details. The story’s main intent was to explain to the readers the narrator’s point of view. Given that the short story focused on inner darkness, the setting was not

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