The Black Cat
The black cat is a symbol of the narrator's alcohol addiction, and how it ultimately destroyed him
The Black Cat, Retold
Part 1
The narrator's initial beliefs about alcohol: wise and beautiful.
Part 2
Part 3
"[The cat] was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree" (4).
"[The cat] was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I was about the house" (4)
Throughout the years, the narrator becomes exceptionally fond of alcohol, and is convinced that it is a friend.
"Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character...had experienced a radical alteration for the worse" (4).
Through excessive drinking, the narrator's tender personality substantially deteriorates. However they do not hold alcohol accountable, but instead consistently regards it as a friend.
Part 4
"I took out from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut out one of its eyes from the socket!" (5).
Part 5
"I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed" (5).
Part 6
"One morning, in cold blood, I slipped a noose around its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree;—hung it with tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart;—hung it because I knew it had loved me" (6).
The narrator, still irate, attempts to rid himself of his addiction, symbolized by the hanging of the black cat. However, the narrator does so with tears streaming down his eyes, thus showing he is unhappy about it.
Ultimately, the narrator abhors his constant drinking, and strikes at it, trying to get rid of it.
The narrator's attempt proves unfruitful, and he soon returns back to drinking, with no recollection of his attempt.
Part 7
"I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception had fallen in...upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat" (7).
Unfortunately, the narrator's attempt is once again futile, and his alcoholism returns to haunt him.
Part 8
Part 9
Part 11
"[I]ts evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed me. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred" (9).
"[There] sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had cosigned me to the hangman." (14).
The black cat is a symbol of narrator's sanity and judgment, and how it changed over time
"It was a black cat—a very large one—fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect except one...I at once offered to purchase it from the landlord...When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once" (8).
The return of alcohol is embodied by the return of a very similar black cat. History repeats itself, and the narrator returns to regarding it as a friend, and both become fond of each other
The narrator returns to his old hatred of his alcoholism.
Part 10
"I aimed a blow at the animal...but this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead" (11).
The narrator cannot take alcohol anymore, and attempts to kill it once more. However, he is stopped by his wife. In a fit of rage sparked by the alcohol, the narrator kills his wife.
The narrator's alcohol addiction eventually leads to the narrator's downfall, as it revealed the murder to the police.
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A couple days later, the narrator decides that he is done, and "aimed a blow at the animal. [He then] buried the axe in [his wife's] brain. She fell dead" (11).
The narrator adopts another black cat, which "closely [resembles his old cat] in every respect except one" (8).
This symbolizes the return of the narrator's sanity and judgment
Furthermore, the narrator also later discovers "that like [his old cat], it had also been deprived of one of its eyes" (9).
The narrator's sanity and judgment is still partially blinded
One morning, the narrator "slipped a noose around [the cat's] neck and hung it to the limb of a tree" (6).
The killing of his sanity symbolizes the narrator's transition to insanity.
However, the narrator eventually develops a hatred for the cat due to alcoholism, and "deliberately cut out one of its eyes from the socket!" (5).
Cutting out an eye symbolizes partially blinding sanity and proper judgment
In the beginning, the narrator and the black cat were fond of each other, with the cat "[attending them] wherever [they] was about the house" (4)
The narrator's avoidance of his cat leads to his clouded judgment, which ultimately results in him killing his wife when he meant to kill his cat.
The narrator is initially extremely fond of his good judgment and sanity
The narrator becomes more and more insane
Since the cat, which symbolizes sanity, is always following the narrator, the narrator was initially extremely sane.
The narrator becomes irate at the cat, eventually completely avoiding it.
The narrator is running away from his sanity, thus becoming more insane