The Black Cat Summary
5 min read ⌚
This narrative brings to life all that is hidden within us and questions our real intentions.
Edgar Allan Poe is renowned for his sharp and realistic angles that he prefers to explore.
The thought-provoking aspects on some occasions can deteriorate a person’s mental health, and that’s precisely what we are about to find out.
Who Should Read “The Black Cat”? And Why?
Indeed, this narrative has some elements that resemble real horror movies, and nightmares. However, the real incentives of the actors in this story are concealed behind shocking actions and events.
“The Black Cat” is a book suitable for the adult audience who likes the tone of Edgar Allan Poe, and everything that he stands for. We warmly advise you to read this masterpiece and share your unbiased thoughts.
Edgar Allan Poe Biography
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston. He can be described as one of America’s greatest poets, editors, and authors of all time.
His best works are The Raven, The Sleeper, Annabel Lee, The Pit, and Pendulum, etc.
Plot
A first-person perspective is the core and substance of this story. The narrator is, in fact, a criticized man, a person whose future is yet to be decided. From what we know, the narrator shows immense appreciation and love for animals.
The plot actually begins with the revelation that he enjoys the company of several pets, including a big black cat – named Pluto. The narrator focuses on the beauty and marks this furry creature out for the pivotal role in this story.
It may seem unusual, but the bond between the cat and the narrator grows with each passing moment. Their relationship is based on spiritual understanding, and love. Alcohol puts an end or weakens this bond after the narrator falls under its rule.
The man comes home drunk almost every night, hoping that Pluto will simply run away. Nonetheless, when he tries to grab him, the cat pushes the panic button and bites the narrator. Out of anger, the narrator pulls out a pen-knife from his pocket and stabs the cat in the eye.
That moment marks the end of this journey, and the cat is alarmed whenever the master approaches. At first, the narrator feels a sense of regret for the deed, but what is done is done. All the hostility brings to life another attitude, which will become the fundamental nature of all the decision-making in the future.
Driven by anger, he decides to tie a noose around the cat’s neck and hangs it in the garden where Pluto eventually dies. The same night, the narrator, his wife, and the servant flee due to the fire that just emerged out of nowhere. Unable to put the fire out, they stay out in the open.
The next day a bolt of lightning strikes the narrator (figuratively speaking) when he sees that his beautiful home is now a heap of ruins. He finds only one wall standing on which an illusion of a cat appears that is depicted with a rope around its neck.
Nonetheless, the narrator refuses to acknowledge his mistakes, and not even this insight triggers a profound disturbance. He reckons that someone from the outside is responsible for throwing the carcass into his bedroom and caused a reaction.
The narrator is tormented by a sense of guilt and realizes that he misses Pluto more than anything. Nothing can take away this disgrace, and the narrator begins to fall deeper and deeper into melancholy. Sometime later, he encounters a cat near the tavern, which resembles Pluto.
Not only this black cat has the same traits as Pluto, it even misses an eye. The narrator sidesteps all small differences such as the white patch on the cat’s chest and decides to take the cat home. Haunted by his deeds, the narrator dreads the cat, and feel repugnance towards it.
After a while, the white patch that distinguishes Pluto from the new cat shapes in a way that reminds him of the noose that he tied around Pluto’s neck. This unexpected turn of events scares him to death, and the narrator begins to dislike the cat intensely.
This conflict reaches a boiling point when the cat almost trips the master down the stairs. He gets so upset with this innocent furry creature and takes an ax to kill it. His wife jumps into the scene, to defend the cat and stop him from killing it.
Instead, he directs his anger towards his wife and kills her instantaneously. To escape from justice, he reckons that the best way to hide his wife’s body is by removing some of the bricks from the wall.
After he is done with concealing his wife’s body, he turns heads towards devising a plan to make it look like he has got nothing to do with the accident.
When the policemen arrive at the crime scene, they find nothing, and the narrator is free to go home. The cat is gone as well, and the narrator cannot locate it. This gives him a lot of room to contemplate his next move, and sleep without feeling any regret nor self-disgust.
Although the investigation is still up and running, the officers cannot lay hands on a shred of evidence. Afterward, the narrator comments on the structure of the building and praises its endurance.
The Black Cat Epilogue
The police now suspect that the body is hidden behind this wall and decides to take action. After destroying the brick wall, the police find the body and arrests the narrator, which is a foregone conclusion.
He doesn’t seem alarmed and even describes how he walled the monster for everyone’s sake.
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“The Black Cat PDF Quotes”
The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. Click To Tweet When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife. Click To Tweet One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. Click To Tweet My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. Click To Tweet I took from my waistcoat pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! Click To Tweet
Our Critical Review
We give our thumbs up for this story, and we advise that snatching this book wouldn’t be in vain.
There’s a lot to learn, and understand when it comes to grasping the psychological profile of these unstable individuals.
Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.
