The Black Cat - Edgar Allan Poe

 

Edgar Allan Poe 

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809. He was the son of actress, Elizabeth Arnold Poe and actor David Poe Jr. His father, David Poe Jr, had abandoned the family in 1810 leaving his mother to die a year later of a terrible case of tuberculosis (2). Following his mothers death He was taken in by a Richmond merchant, John Allan and his wife. At seventeen he attended the University of Virginia, due to gambling all of his tuition money away he was kicked out, leaving him with thousands of dollars left in debt. After moving out of Baltimore to Richmond, he shifted from writing poems to short stories (4). In 1833, his story "MS. Found in a Bottle" (5) won $50 and not long after that he landed a job, as an editor, at The Southern Literary Messenger. He was names a critical reviewer and married his wife, which was his 13 year old second cousin, Virginia Clemm. Soon after, he was laid off from the job due to drinking, which seemed to be a problem in his life (2). After awhile, people started to think he was a drug addict (4).  

                (Image of Edgar Allan Poe (1)) 

The Black Cat 

The Black Cat was published in 1843 in The Saturday Evenings Post. In this short story, this narrator seems to have a strong affection towards animals until one day he becomes abusive with this black cat. One night the cat bit this narrator and he punished it by cutting its eye out and hanging it from the tree. The house burns down, leaving an outline of this cat with what appears to be a noose on the basement wall. Later on, he finds an identical black cat however this one has a white spot on the chest. He develops this hatred once more. He attempts to murder the cat with an ax. His wife catches him and he ends up killing his wife instead. He buries her body in between the wall and soon the police come, looking for his wife. He believes he got away with it however the body was soon found when the police heard the black cat crying for help with the body that was buried in the wall (3). 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    (The Black Cat Image (1)) 

Analysis

During Edgar Allan Poe's life he had the battle of alcoholism. In this short story The Black Cat, I believe this cat to be a symbol for his alcoholism. Poe begins to life alcohol and likes the idea of alcohol then sudden he doesn't. Poe starts abusing the cat in which he started doing the same to alcohol. He started hating this cat because it was always around, so was the alcohol. Him murdering the cat and the house burning down, is a symbol for him trying to start over and get a hold on his life. With the outline of the cat on the basement wall, is to remind him that he will always be this alcoholic but be can over come it. Then this second cat comes in and it's a sign of his relapse. He then tries to get it under control and ends up killing his wife. This being a metaphor of his wife that had just recently passed. Poe was very depressed after his wife's death and he blamed himself and the alcoholism. Then at the end the black cat reappears with the body is a symbol of the alcoholism is not ending. He picked it back up and he can't get over his addiction. 

Work Cited: 

“The Black Cat (Short Story).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Cat_(short_story). (1)

“Edgar Allan Poe.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 6 Apr. 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe. (2)

Giordano, Robert. “The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe.” PoeStories.com, poestories.com/read/blackcat. (3)

Khurana, Simran. “Analysis of ‘A Dream within a Dream’ by Edgar Allan Poe.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 15 June 2019, www.thoughtco.com/a-dream-within-a-dream-2831163. (4)

“Lit2Go.” M.S. Found in a Bottle | The Works of Edgar Allan Poe | Edgar Allan Poe | Lit2Go ETC, etc.usf.edu/lit2go/147/the-works-of-edgar-allan-poe/5379/ms-found-in-a-bottle/. (5) 

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