The Black Cat

by Edgar Allan Poe

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Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 to traveling actors Eliza
and David Poe. When Edgar was a baby, David abandoned the family,
leaving Eliza to support three young children. In a devastating turn,
Eliza contracted tuberculosis and spent the last few months of her life
in Richmond. She died on December 8th, 1811 at the age of 24,
leaving behind her three children. Two-year-old Edgar was taken in by
Richmond couple John and Frances Allan. Edgar was never officially
adopted, a cause and result of constant tensions between him and his
foster father. He did not take their last name, but instead he became
Edgar Allan Poe. As a teenager Poe enjoyed the life of the elite
upper-class.

In 1824, a young Edgar Allan Poe was a part of a junior honor color
guard that escorted the Revolutionary War General Marquis de
Lafayette around Richmond, Virginia. Lafayette and the color guard
stopped at Richmond’s Old Stone House to visit the Ege family, who
had assisted in the American Revolution. Poe stood guard on the front
steps of the house. 98 years later, the Old Stone House became the
Poe Museum.

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Frequently Asked Questions about American Short Fiction

What is a short fiction called?

A work of short fiction can have several different names depending on

the length of the work. A novella is the longest form of short fiction and
is just shorter than a novel. A short story is the most common length of
short fiction. These stories are usually anywhere from a few pages to
a couple dozen pages. The shortest kind of short fiction is called flash
fiction or micro-fiction. These stories can be as short as just a few
words!

What is the shortest type of fiction?

The shortest type of fiction is called flash fiction or micro-fiction. This

refers to fiction that usually consists of just a few sentences or even
sometimes just a few words. Any fiction work under 1000 words is
considered flash fiction, and any under 300 words is considered
micro-fiction.

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Who are two of the most famous American writers of
short fiction?

The modern American short story would not exist today without the
influence of Edger Allan Poe. Besides Poe, there are numerous
examples of famous American short story writers. They include
Washington Irving, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Who popularized short stories in America?

Short stories became popular in the United States as advances in

printing made magazines and other publications more affordable.
These publications often featured short stories as they were
accessible and enjoyable for a wide variety of readers.

What is the first American short story?

The work of Washington Irving, such as “Rip Van Winkle” (1819), is

sometimes referred to as the first American short story. However, prior
to colonization, Native American people also had a vibrant oral
storytelling tradition consisting of myths and folktales that are also
examples of short fiction.

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American short stories

What Is Short Fiction?

Short fiction is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a work of fiction
that is shorter than a novel. But, within the world of short fiction, there
is a lot of variety. Short fiction can encompass anything from a short
novel, known as a novella, to micro-fiction, sometimes also called
flash fiction, that can consist of only a couple of words. However, most
short fiction consists of short stories that range from just a few pages
to a couple of dozen pages.

Because of the shorter format, the plot of a short fiction story is usually
simpler, and there are generally fewer characters than you might find
in a novel. This makes short fiction perfect for practicing in-depth
analysis, as it is easier to read a short story multiple times and
consider the importance of every detail.

American Fiction: Short Stories

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Short stories have always played an important role in American fiction.
Almost all great American writers have produced some short stories,
and some are known exclusively for their short fiction. In fact,
American writers have been so influential in the field of short fiction
that some critics argue that the modern-day short story is an American
invention.1 In any case, some of the most important works of American
literature are works of short fiction, so it is essential to acquaint
yourself with the genre.

As advances in printing made magazines and other publications more

affordable, short stories became popular in the United States in the
mid-nineteenth century. These publications often featured short
stories, as they were accessible and enjoyable for a wide variety of
readers.

Today, the novel has overtaken the short story in popularity among
readers; however, American writers continue to write and publish
excellent works of short fiction.

Nineteenth Century

Considered by many to be the first great American writer, Washington

Irving (1783–1859) is also credited with writing some of the first
American short stories. His tales such as “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) and

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“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) were based on German
folktales, a long-standing form of short fiction.
However, an early American author who was the short story’s biggest
champion was Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849). Poe’s unsettling gothic
short stories, including “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) and
“The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843), influenced writers worldwide and remain
classic examples of American short fiction.

Poe was also well known for his literary criticism and theory of short
fiction. In an essay reviewing the collected stories of his contemporary
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864), Poe argued that the short story
might have an advantage over the novel because the author doesn’t
risk losing the reader’s attention:

In the brief tale, however, the author is enabled to carry out the fulness
of his intention, be it what it may. During the hour of perusal the soul of
the reader is at the writer’s control. There are no external or extrinsic
influences – resulting from weariness or interruption.2
While Poe worked to elevate the short story and turn it into an art
form, many American writers found it necessary to sell short stories to
various publications in order to make a living as a writer. It was also a
way for writers to gain a wider readership and more popular appeal.
Mark Twain’s (1835–1910) “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of

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Calaveras County” (1865) was first published in The New York
Saturday Press and helped to jumpstart his literary career.

Jack London (1876–1916), on the other hand, was one of the first
American authors to achieve monetary success by writing and selling
stories such as “How to Build a Fire” (1902) to various publications
across the United States.

Twentieth Century

Actually, as writers put it when they do not know how to begin a

sentence, there is very little to say about writing short stories unless
you are a professional explainer. If you can do it, you don’t have to
explain it. If you can not do it, no explanation will ever help.

(Ernest Hemingway, 1959)3

By the early to mid-twentieth century, during the literary movements of
Modernism, Experimentalism, and Postmodernism, short stories
became more and more experimental. Short fiction often functioned as
a medium for writers to play with style, structure, and various literary
theories.

The stories of Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), including “Hills Like

White Elephants” (1927) and collections such as In Our Time, first

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published in the United States in 1925, exemplified the author’s
“iceberg theory” of minimalist fiction. Other key writers of the era,
such as F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) and William Faulkner
(1897-1962), also published important short stories, including
Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” (1930) and Fitzgerald’s “The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button” (1922).
Ernest Hemingway was well known for his minimalist fiction, including
his “iceberg theory.” The iceberg theory refers to the fact that most
of an iceberg is generally out of sight as it lies below the surface of the
water. Hemingway applied this idea to his novels and short stories,
opting for a less-is-more style of omission. Very little is explicitly stated
in Hemingway’s work, and there is much more to the story than what
is happening on the surface.

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s also expanded the
reach of short fiction by African American writers, including Langston
Hughes (1901–1967) and Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960).

Towards the middle of the century, short stories by female writers

became more widely read in the United States. These included
Flannery O’Connor’s (1925–1964) Southern Gothic classic “A Good
Man is Hard to Find” (1953), Joyce Carol Oates’ (1938–present)

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been??” (1966), and Alice
Walker’s (1944–present) “Everyday Use” (1973).

African American Fiction: Short Stories

Largely forgotten in the history of American literature, Charles Waddell
Chesnutt (1858–1932) and Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) were
two of the first African American writers to embrace short fiction.
However, it wasn’t until the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s
that short stories by African American authors gained a wider
readership.

Key figures of the Harlem Renaissance, such as Langston Hughes,

Rudolph Fisher (1897–1934), and Zora Neale Hurston, published
short stories that remain vital works of American literature. These
include Hughes’ “The Blues I’m Playing” (1934), Fisher’s “Miss
Cynthie” (1933), and Hurston’s “Sweat” (1926).

Close on the heels of the Harlem Renaissance was the work of

Richard Wright (1908–1960). His 1938 collection of four short stories,
Uncle Tom’s Children, earned the writer a Guggenheim Fellowship,
which permitted him to complete the novel Native Son (1940).

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Other important African American figures in American literature are
also well known for their short fiction. These include Ralph Ellison’s
(1914–1994) “Battle Royal” (1947) and James Baldwin’s (1924–1987)
“Sonny’s Blues” and “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon” from the
collection Going to Meet the Man (1965).

Native American Fiction: Short Stories

Some people point to fables and folktales as the origin of short fiction.
These stories were often told orally and, therefore, had to be short
enough for the teller to remember the whole tale.

With strong folklore and oral storytelling traditions, short stories have
long been a part of Native American literature. These include stories
with high cultural value, such as myths and folktales.

There are also many contemporary Native American authors who

write short stories, including Louise Erdrich (1954–present), who wrote
the O. Henry Award-winning “Fleur” (1986), and Sherman Alexie
(1966–present), who wrote the 2003 collection Ten Little Indians.

American Detective and American Crime Fiction:

Short Stories
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In 1841, Edgar Allan Poe published what is widely regarded as the
first modern detective story: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Poe’s
protagonist, C. Auguste Dupin, is generally considered the first
fictional detective, and he would become the model for many future
detective characters.
In honor of his contribution to the mystery genre, the Mystery Writers
of America developed the Edgar Allan Poe Awards in the 1940s, an
award that celebrates excellence in mystery writing, film, television,
and theatre. The category for short fiction has been awarded to
authors such as the master of horror Shirley Jackson (1916–1965)
and the renowned crime writer Lawrence Block (1938–present).

As the short story has generally been regarded as a form of popular

fiction that is accessible to many readers, it’s no surprise that mystery
and crime fiction, some of the most popular literary genres, make
substantial use of the short story. Best-selling modern-day crime
authors, such as James Patterson (1947–present) and Micheal
Connelly (1956–present), also write compelling short stories, and
there are numerous literary magazines and anthologies dedicated to
short crime fiction.

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Contemporary American Short Fiction
While short fiction has largely fallen out of popularity among readers,
many contemporary American writers still work in the genre. Like
American literature, contemporary American short fiction represents a
vast array of styles, subjects, and viewpoints.

Many writers, such as ZZ Packer (1973–present) and Jhumpa Lahiri

(1967–present), are experiencing successful literary careers
generated by debut short stories. Lahiri’s debut collection of stories,
Interpreter of Maladies (1999), won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
and the PEN/Hemingway Award.

Other writers who are well recognized for their novel-length work
continue to write short fiction that is published in literary magazines
and the authors’ own collections. Some notable examples include
James McBride’s (1957–present) Five-Carat Soul (2017), Helena
María Viramontes’ (1954–present)The Moths and Other Stories
(1985), and Junot Díaz’s (1968–present) Drown (1996).

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American Short Fiction - Key takeaways

● Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe produced some of the

first written American short stories.
● American authors often wrote short stories and sold them to
various literary publications to help pay the bills.
● Almost all the significant American authors have at least dabbled
in short fiction, including Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and F.
Scott Fitzgerald.
● The short stories of African American writers became popular
during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s.
● In contemporary American literature, short fiction is still widely
written, but it is less popular among readers.

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Superstitions and black cats

The number 13, four-leaf clovers, walking under an open ladder,

stepping on a crack in the sidewalk, and opening an umbrella inside
are just a few of the superstitions that I learned about as a
child—either from my own family or from friends. As an adult, it might
be easy to laugh off superstitions or look at data to “disprove” them,
but there is no denying that superstitions are present in cultures
across the globe. And they have a real impact on the way people
experience the world.

A study published in the International Journal of Psychology and

Behavioral Sciences describes the possible origin of superstitions as a
way of creating the perception of “having control over outer conditions”
(1). This means that superstitions are used to create understanding
and exert control over aspects of our lives that we may have little to no
control over, like the weather. Additionally, in an interview with the
British Psychological Society psychologist Stuart Vyse explains there
is evidence that performance in skills-based activities may be
improved when “luck-enhancing” superstitions are employed (2). His
statement suggests that superstitious behavior has a psychological
benefit or reduction in anxiety for the individual.

Now that we have a small understanding of the origin and impact of

superstitions, I’d like to look specifically at one object of superstition
that often appears around this time of year: black cats.

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Before taking the time to learn more about the superstitious history of
black cats, I thought that they were only considered a sign of bad luck,
but I quickly discovered that this is not the case! Black cats appear in
the folklore of many more cultures as both good and bad omens. In
some European folklore, black cats are considered common
companions of witches and bringers of misfortune if they happened to
cross your path. In contrast, Welsh folklore depicts black cats would
bring luck to a home and could even be a reliable weather predictor
(3).

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Gothic literature
In the most general terms, ​Gothic literature can be defined as writing
that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and
melodramatic narrative devices, and an overall atmosphere of
exoticism, mystery, fear, and dread. Often, a Gothic novel or story will
revolve around a large, ancient house that conceals a terrible secret
or serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and threatening
character.

Despite the fairly common use of this bleak motif, Gothic writers have
also used supernatural elements, touches of romance, well-known
historical characters, and travel and adventure narratives to entertain
their readers. The type is a subgenre of Romantic literature—that's
Romantic the period, not romance novels with breathless lovers with
wind-swept hair on their paperback covers—and much fiction today
stems from it.

Development of the Genre

Gothic literature developed during the Romantic period in Britain. The
first mention of "Gothic," as pertaining to literature, was in the subtitle
of Horace Walpole's 1765 story "The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic
Story" which was supposed to have been meant by the author as a
subtle joke—"When he used the word it meant something like
‘barbarous,’ as well as ‘deriving from the Middle Ages." In the book,
it's purported that the story was an ancient one, then recently
discovered. But that's just part of the tale.

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The supernatural elements in the story, though, launched a whole new
genre, which took off in Europe. Then America's Edgar Allen Poe got
ahold of it in the mid-1800s and succeeded like no one else. In Gothic
literature, he found a place to explore psychological trauma, the evils
of man, and mental illness. Any modern-day zombie story, detective
story, or Stephen King novel owes a debt to Poe. There may have
been successful Gothic writers before and after him, but no one
perfected the genre quite like Poe.

Major Gothic Writers

A few of the most influential and popular 18th-century Gothic writers
were Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto, 1765), Ann Radcliffe
(Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794), Matthew Lewis (The Monk, 1796), and
Charles Brockden Brown (Wieland, 1798).

The genre continued to command a large readership well into the 19th
century, first as Romantic authors such as Sir Walter Scott (The
Tapestried Chamber, 1829) adopted Gothic conventions, then later as
Victorian writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson (The Strange Case
of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886) and Bram Stoker (Dracula, 1897)
incorporated Gothic motifs in their stories of horror and suspense.

Elements of Gothic fiction are prevalent in several of the

acknowledged classics of 19th-century literature, including Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of
the Seven Gables (1851), Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847), Victor
Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831 in French), and many of

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the tales written by Edgar Allan Poe such as "The Murders in the Rue
Morgue” (1841) and "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843).

Influence on Today's Fiction

Today, Gothic literature has been replaced by ghost and horror stories,
detective fiction, suspense and thriller novels, and other contemporary
forms that emphasize mystery, shock, and sensation. While each of
these types is (at least loosely) indebted to Gothic fiction, the Gothic
genre was also appropriated and reworked by novelists and poets
who, on the whole, cannot be strictly classified as Gothic writers.

In the novel Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen affectionately showcased

the misconceptions and immaturities that could be produced by
misreading Gothic literature. In experimental narratives such as The
Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner
transplanted Gothic preoccupations—threatening mansions, family
secrets, doomed romance—to the American South. And in his
multigenerational chronicle One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel
García Márquez constructs a violent, dreamlike narrative around a
family house that takes on a dark life of its own.

Gothic fiction as a genre was first established with the publication of

Horace Walpole’s dark, foreboding The Castle of Otranto in 1764. In
the centuries since, gothic fiction has not only flourished, but also
branched off into many popular subgenres.

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Early novels in the gothic horror subgenre heavily feature discussions
of morality, philosophy, and religion, with the evil villains most often
acting as metaphors for some sort of human temptation the hero must
overcome. The novels' endings are more often than not unhappy, and
romance is never the focus.

The battle between humanity and unnatural forces of evil (sometimes

man-made, sometimes supernatural) within an oppressive,
inescapable, and bleak landscape is considered to be the true
trademark of a gothic horror novel. These are the core elements that
separate gothic horror from its cousin, gothic romance

Edgar Allan Poe's Use of Gothic Elements in The Black Cat

Traditional Gothic characteristics were originally exemplified by

Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto. This text was the first novel of

its kind to introduce, a suspenseful atmosphere, ancient prophecies,

and metonymy of horror. Novels and stories frequently revisit the

same elements when creating a gothic tale, but can also use other

characteristics to create the same essence of Castle of Otranto. The

Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe uses an abundance of adjectives to

set a gloomy scene, but also uses the narrator’s emotional distress

and supernatural curiosity to structure the gothic tale. Edgar Allen

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Poe is widely known for making some of the greatest Gothic texts,

but also has very distinct characteristics throughout his, modeling

after Walpole, but also creating a standard for future texts. Most of

Poe’s works are easily identified as gothic due to the theme of death

and decay, although that is not always the theme being portrayed by

the story until later in the work.

“The Black Cat” as an Example of Gothic Literature

In The Black Cat it is made apparent, that death is a common

subject, but the beginning is primarily an internal struggle within the

narrator. As a writer, Edgar Allen Poe has to create characters with

depth, that add to the suspense of the story. In response, most of

his characters have some sort of mental illness, or eventually go

mad. While reading from the narrator’s perspective, the readers are

concerned about the mental state of their story teller, but sometimes

forget the context of the story being told. In the opening of The

Black Cat the narrator says “Yet, mad am I not” proclaiming his

mental state early, allowing the reader to look deeper into his

character, but forgetting the scene setting given n the same same

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page. The opening also tells readers that the narrator is telling this

story the day before his execution, allowing readers the try and

create a story before the narrator elaborates his confession. He

says he married young and her “disposition not uncongenial with my

own”, ironic how happy his wife made him, but would later be

literally be the hand of her unhappy fate. It is made quite apparent in

the beginning, after stating that recent household events presented

the narrator with horror, that this is a gothic text, but with some

missing tell-tale elements such as a castle.

Continuing into the story, Poe’s black cat character named Pluto, is

introduced and creates a basis of preceding events. Looking at

Pluto analytically, Pluto is the Roman God of the underworld, which

makes sense because this creates that theme always present in

gothic texts, but not yet alluded to in The Black Cat; death. This

theme is not outwardly stated, but had to be interpreted when being

presented to this character so early on. Death is a theme made

apparent later in the text, but is often presented throughout gothic

texts. When the narrator finally kills Pluto, the connection between

his name and his fate is presented, when he “reappears” as an

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apparition in the fire. If the cat Pluto is being represented as a god,

then it can be assumed he can reincarnate himself to terrorize the

narrator who killed him. Poe choose to keep the theme death

hidden to add suspense and a more iconic ending although usually

presented early on. In the following scenes the narrator, still not

evidently mentally ill, begins to illustrate his problem with alcohol,

ultimately creating the dissolution of the first black cat. “I grew day

by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings

for others.” He claims another being possessed him to kill his cat,

that it was not truly him who killed Pluto, but can the cruel murder

be attributed to his alcohol and in personal opinion, his mental state

which is beginning to deteriorate at this point in in the story. The two

themes that eventually coincide, madness and death, promote

Edgar Allan Poe’s classic Gothic structure.

Another Gothic element usually presented in gothic texts, has to do

with the supernatural, which Poe almost always manages to present

in his stories. In The Black Cat, Poe yet again keeps this theme

hidden, making the reader interpret multiple things to come to the

conclusion of a supernatural presence. The first example is the

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suggestion made by the narrator’s wife of the similarity between

cats and witches. In history, cats are associated with witches due to

their malevolent nature, and their nocturnal lifestyle. After the death

of the first cat the narrator sees the image of the cat with the noose

around its neck while the house is on fire. It can be debated whether

he sees the image due to his failing mental state, or if it is

something supernatural, an effect of him killing the first cat. Once

the cat is replaced with a coincidentally similar cat, the reader

should wonder if the coincidence has to do with a celestial being, or

in other words the dead cat. Poe decides to use the supernatural as

a gothic element in his stories because of the interesting aspect in a

dark story. At the time The Black Cat was written, readers were

intrigued by the unknown, not too different than audiences of today.

When a writer decides to explore topics like this, one that can be

looked into further other than the context given, it excites readers

therefore making it a popular, and much anticipated aspect in Gothic

literature, but more specifically Edgar Allen Poe works. After seeing

the apparent apparition, the narrator convinces himself, what he

saw was untrue, but the terror still haunts him “it did not less fail to

make a deep impression upon my fancy.”

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Symbols
Symbols are a key component of Poe's dark tale, particularly the
following ones.

​ The black cat: More than just the title character, the black cat is
also an important symbol. Like the bad omen of legend, the
narrator believes Pluto and his successor have led him down the
path toward insanity and immorality.
​ Alcohol: While the narrator begins to view the black cat as an
outward manifestation of everything the narrator views as evil
and unholy, blaming the animal for all his woes, it is his addiction
to drinking, more than anything else, that seems to be the true
reason for the narrator's mental decline.
​ House and home: "Home sweet home" is supposed to be a
place of safety and security, however, in this story, it becomes a
dark and tragic place of madness and murder. The narrator kills
his favorite pet, tries to kill its replacement, and goes on to kill his
own wife. Even the relationships that should have been the
central focus of his healthy and happy home fall victim to his
deteriorating mental state.
​ Prison: When the story opens, the narrator is physically in
prison, however, his mind was already imprisoned by the
shackles of madness, paranoia, and alcohol-induced delusions
long before he was apprehended for his crimes.

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​ The wife: The wife could have been a grounding force in the
narrator's life. He describes her as having "that humanity of
feeling." Rather than saving him, or at least escaping with her
own life, she becomes a horrible example of innocence betrayed.
Loyal, faithful, and kind, she never leaves her husband no matter
how low he sinks into the depths of depravity. Instead, it is he
who is in a sense unfaithful to his marriage vows. His mistress,
however, is not another woman, but rather his obsession with
drinking and the inner demons his drinking unleashes as
symbolically personified by the black cat. He forsakes the
woman he loves—and eventually kills her because he can't
break the hold of his destructive obsession.

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Major Themes
Love and hate are two key themes in the story. The narrator at first
loves his pets and his wife, but as madness takes hold of him, he
comes to loathe or dismiss everything that should be of the utmost
importance to him. Other major themes include:

​ Justice and truth: The narrator tries to hide the truth by walling
up his wife's body but the voice of the black cat helps bring him
to justice.
​ Superstition: The black cat is an omen of bad luck, a theme that
runs throughout literature.
​ Murder and death: Death is the central focus of the entire story.
The question is what causes the narrator to become a killer.
​ Illusion versus reality: Does the alcohol release the narrator's
inner demons, or is it merely an excuse for his horrendous acts
of violence? Is the black cat merely a cat, or something embued
with a greater power to bring about justice or exact revenge?
​ Loyalty perverted: A pet is often seen as a loyal and faithful
partner in life but the escalating hallucinations the narrator
experiences propel him into murderous rages, first with Pluto and
then with the cat the replaces him. The pets he once held in
highest affection become the thing he most loathes. As the
man's sanity unravels, his wife, whom he also purports to love,
becomes someone who merely inhabits his home rather than
shares his life. She ceases to be a real person, and when she
does, she is expendable. When she dies, rather than feel the

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 horror of killing someone he cares for, the man's first response is
to hide the evidence of his crime.
​

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Freud's Ice Burgh Theory

Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind,

describing the features of the mind’s structure and function. Freud
used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the
mind.

Freud (1915) described the conscious mind, which consists of all the
mental processes of which we are aware, and this is seen as the tip of
the iceberg. For example, you may be feeling thirsty at this moment
and decide to get a drink.

Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of

the mind. On the surface is consciousness, which consists of those
thoughts that are the focus of our attention now, and this is seen as

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the tip of the iceberg. The preconscious consists of all which can be
retrieved from memory. The third and most significant region is the
unconscious. Here lie the processes that are the real cause of most
behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the
part you cannot see.

The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not

currently aware of, but which can easily be brought to consciousness
(1924). It exists just below the level of consciousness, before the
unconscious mind.

The preconscious is like a mental waiting room, in which thoughts

remain until they “succeed in attracting the eye of the conscious”
(Freud, 1924, p. 306).

This is what we mean in our everyday usage of the word available

memory. For example, you are presently not thinking about your
mobile telephone number, but now it is mentioned you can recall it
with ease.

Mild emotional experiences may be in the preconscious, but

sometimes traumatic and powerful negative emotions are repressed
and hence not available in the preconscious.

According to Freud (1915), the unconscious mind is the primary

source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of
the mind is the part you cannot see.

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While we are fully aware of what is happening in the conscious mind,
we have no idea what information is stored in the unconscious mind.

The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive

wishes and impulses kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious
area.

Our feelings, motives, and decisions are powerfully influenced by our

past experiences, and stored in the unconscious.

Unconscious Mind

In psychoanalysis, the unconscious mind refers to that part of the

psyche that contains repressed ideas and images, as well as primitive
desires and impulses that have never been allowed to enter the
conscious mind.

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Freud viewed the unconscious mind as a vital part of the individual. It
is irrational, emotional, and has no concept of reality, so its attempts to
leak out must be inhibited.

Content contained in the unconscious mind is generally deemed too

anxiety-provoking to be allowed in consciousness. It is maintained at
an unconscious level where, according to Freud, it still influences our
behavior.

The unconscious mind comprises mental processes inaccessible to

consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior
(Wilson, 2002).

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Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind,
and a primary assumption of Freudian theory is that the unconscious
mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.
Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious
conscious.

The unconscious contains all sorts of significant and disturbing

material which we need to keep out of awareness because they are
too threatening to acknowledge fully.

The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive

wishes and impulses kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious
area.

Much of our behavior, according to Freud, is a product of factors

outside our conscious awareness. People use a range of defense
mechanisms (such as repression or denial) to avoid knowing their
unconscious motives and feelings.

The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive

wishes and impulses kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious
area.

For example, Freud (1915) found that some events and desires were
often too frightening or painful for his patients to acknowledge and
believed such information was locked away in the unconscious mind.
This can happen through the process of repression.

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Freud recognized that some physical symptoms may have
psychological causes. Hysteria (sometimes known as conversion
hysteria) is a physical symptom with no physical cause. However, the
ailment is just as real as if it had but is caused by some underlying
unconscious problem.

Psychosomatic disorders are a milder version of this. The

unconscious is seen as a vital part of the individual; it is irrational,
emotional, and has no concept of reality, so its attempts to leak out
must be inhibited.

The unconscious mind contains our biologically based instincts (eros

and Thanatos) for the primitive urges for sex and aggression (Freud,
1915). Freud argued that our primitive urges often do not reach
consciousness because they are unacceptable to our rational,
conscious selves.

Freud believed that the influences of the unconscious reveal

themselves in various ways, including dreams, and slips of the tongue,
now popularly known as Freudian slips.

Freud (1920) gave an example of such a slip when a British Member

of Parliament referred to a colleague with whom he was irritated as
“the honorable member from Hell” instead of from Hull.

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Critical Evaluation

Initially, psychology was skeptical regarding the idea of mental

processes operating at an unconscious level. To other psychologists
determined to be scientific in their approach (e.g. behaviorists), the
concept of the unconscious mind has proved a source of considerable
frustration because it defies objective description, and is extremely
difficult to test or measure objectively.

However, the gap between psychology and psychoanalysis has

narrowed, and the notion of the unconscious is now an important
focus of psychology.

For example, cognitive psychology has identified unconscious

processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic
processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social
psychology has shown the importance of implicit processing
(Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Such empirical findings have
demonstrated the role of unconscious processes in human behavior.

However, empirical research in psychology has revealed the limits of

the Freudian theory of the unconscious mind, and the modern notion
of an “adaptive unconscious” (Wilson, 2004) is not the same as the
psychoanalytic one.

Indeed, Freud (1915) underestimated the importance of the

unconscious, and in terms of the iceberg analogy, there is a much
larger portion of the mind under the water. The mind operates most

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efficiently by relegating a significant degree of high-level, sophisticated
processing to the unconscious.

Whereas Freud (1915) viewed the unconscious as a single entity,

psychology now understands the mind to comprise a collection of
modules that have evolved over time and operate outside of
consciousness.

For example, universal grammar (Chomsky, 1972) is an unconscious

language processor that lets us decide whether a sentence is correctly
formed. Separate to this module is our ability to recognize faces
quickly and efficiently, thus illustrating how unconscious modules
operate independently.

Finally, while Freud believed that primitive urges remained

unconscious to protect individuals from experiencing anxiety, the
modern view of the adaptive unconscious is that most information
processing resides outside of consciousness for reasons of efficiency,
rather than repression (Wilson, 2004).

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Analysis of The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe Through

Freud’s Theory of Psychoanalysis

“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe is a morbid story about the

change the narrator undergoes and the gruesome and disturbing

nature of his behaviors. Through the narrator’s development in the

story, his behavior can be investigated by using an aspect of

Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, the Id, Ego, and

Superego. In Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, the narrator’s

character discovers a love for animals at a very young age.

Throughout the character's development, he starts to drink more,

and the visible change that is seen in the animals, except for a black

cat, is tremendous. The narrator clearly has a love and passion for

all his animals, especially a black cat named “Pluto”, but due to his

rapid decline to alcoholism, the character’s love instinct for animals

becomes an aggression instinct.

'The Id is the most inaccessible part of the brain. It is buried in the

unconscious state of mind and is responsible for humans most

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primal instincts. Sigmund Freud states the Id’s work as, “basic

urges, needs, and desires.” The id responds to using instinctual

desires, that are hard to control on most times and lead to what

Freud states the id pertains to sexual desires and instincts, and

instincts of aggression, which acts a pro-dominant instinct in the

story. On a drunken night, when the narrator comes back from the

inn, Pluto finally notices the change that has come about his owner

and is “trying to stay out of my way, to avoid me”. The narrator’s

character becomes angered by the reaction of the animal and his id

takes control of him. “My soul seemed to fly from my body”. The

gruesome nature of the id takes over and the aggression instinct

comes to play when the narrator takes the cat and cuts one of its

eyes out. The narrator’s aggression towards Pluto is evidence that

his love towards animals at such a young age has changed in which

he finds pleasure in torturing animals.

The ego is a mediation device used to work as reasoning,

compared to id’s primal instinct and destructive nature. The ego

makes up most of the conscious decision making in a reality

standpoint. The first ego-characteristic the narrator shows is after

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Pluto’s eye starts to recover. The narrator feels a guilt toward cutting

out the cat’s eye, saying, “I felt growing inside me a new feeling.

Who has not, a hundred times, found himself doing wrong, doing

some evil thing for no other reason than because he knows he

should not?”. He feels a guilt toward the cat whom he had once

love, and who had once loved him back. The narrator’s character’s

id and ego both show when he decides he must kill the cat because,

“I hung it because I knew it had loved me”. His aggressive nature

that comes from the id, is counterbalanced by his ego, in which he

realizes that what he is doing is wrong and is “a sin so deadly” (Poe,

line 56), however because the superego is not present to stop the

ids disturbing nature, the narrator’s character continues to hang the

cat. In the same night, he is awoken to the cries of his neighbors,

who are screaming about a fire. The whole time he can only think

about the cat that he has hung in the cellar, and if this was some

sort of mysterious message. Yet again, on another drunken night,

he sees a black cat, almost like Pluto, and wants to buy the cat from

the Innkeeper. The Innkeeper tells him that the he has never seen

the cat before, and from there, the cat starts following him. His

remorse for the death of Pluto that is brought out in the form of his

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ego, makes him want this cat, “It soon became a pet of both my wife

and myself.”. As the cat starts to follow him around more, the

narrator’s id takes control once again. Instead of the love of the cat

following him, he becomes angry and enraged, leading to the fate of

the second cat. The narrator uses his ego in remorse for Pluto,

however his id has stepped in again.

The superego is the part of the conscious that is stored between

each layer of Sigmund Freuds iceberg. It is the component of

personalities that traits are acquired from through parents or

someone of higher power that is being looked upon. The superego

works to subside the primal urges of the id, and tries to make the

ego work at a moral standpoint in comparison to a realistic

standpoint. As a child, the narrator “had a natural goodness of soul”.

This is the superego, which comes into play when he learns his love

for animals. The natural goodness of the superego however

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become far overruled by the gruesome nature of the id. No matter

the guilt that the narrator feels toward the torture and killing of Pluto,

in which he remembers his childhood love of animals, the superego

becomes present since it is battling the urges of the id. The id,

however, far exceeds the ego and superego that are working to

oppress the aggressive nature that narrator has. The id’s

aggressive nature takes over the narrator’s character as he starts

falling into alcoholism.

Creation of Atmosphere of Horror in The Black Cat

Horror is a unique genre of literature that aims at creating a sense of

unease and causing disturbing imagery. Scaring off the reader with a
word only is challenging, and a limited number of authors are skillful
enough to do it. Edgar Allan Poe is one of those few whose creative
work is referred to as the classics of horror fiction. Known as the
master of horror and mystery, the American author specializes in short
story writing, while his plots, characterization, and style engage with
unsettling imagery and unease. For example, The Black Cat by Poe is
a valuable acquisition of horror fiction in world literature. The story
represents a death-row confession of the unknown prisoner, who is
guilty of domestic violence and cold-blooded murder. In the short

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story, Poe creates an atmosphere of horror through multiple channels,
including first-person narration, foreshadowing, setting, the use of
old-fashioned language, and the appeal to the fear of the unknown.

The Black Cat is told from the first-person perspective, which makes
the described horrors more convincing and shows the narrator’s
change into the evil person in detail. From the very opening of the
short story, the reader learns that the narrator – a death-row prisoner
– is going to tell about “a series of mere household events,” which
eventually end with the destruction of his personality and murder (Poe
1). The first-person narration only contributes to the moral shock and
unease in the story because the audience dives into the murderer’s
mind. Throughout the text, one follows how a kind and pet-loving
person transforms into a cold-blooded killer. Familiarizing with the
narrator, the reader learns about his “docility and humanity,”
“tenderness of heart,” and fondness of animals (Poe 2). As the story
unfolds, the audience gets to know about the narrator’s evil deeds.
Although guilt and shame initially accompany the character, both
disappear when the narrator’s dark side finally wins – when he kills
and buries his wife without a sign of remorse.

Importantly, the first-person internal perspective shows the narrator’s

evil nature instead of telling about it. This approach helps to reveal this
repressed “I” gradually (Zhang and Huijuan 25). At first, the narrator
tries to find out an explanation for his acts of violence towards his cats
and wife. He accuses alcoholism, then “his evil side of psychological

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heart,” but never himself (Zhang and Huijuan 25). Nonetheless, the
reader is confused that the narrator’s tone is boastful and full of pride,
and this feeling only increases as the story progresses. Thanks to the
first-person perspective, the reader catches the moment when the
narrator reveals himself as the brutal and ruthless person – the future
murderer – before the actual crime even takes place.
The first-person narration also adds to the veracity of the story and
makes it more complicated, proving the narrator as not trustworthy. On
the one hand, the first-person perspective makes the story reliable as
the reader gets to know about the events from the witness. If Poe
decided to shift his story to another character’s perspective, for
example, the narrator’s wife, “it would only widen the distance
between the story and the readers” (Zhang and Huijuan 25). What is
more, this decision could harm the narration and change it
aesthetically. The reader would not be able to witness the story
through the eyes and mind of the person whom it affected initially.

On the other hand, the paradox of The Black Cat is that its narrator
cannot be entirely trusted as it usually happens with first-person
narration. As mentioned, the narrator is a prisoner, and he engages in
biased statements and lies throughout the story. He also confesses in
his unstable mental well-being, which makes the reader more
suspicious. For example, the narrator says, “Mad indeed would I be to
expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence”
(Poe 1). The author makes the narration unstable on purpose because

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this move increases the reader’s suspense and intensifies the horror
in the story. Distrusting the narrator, even though he speaks about a
personal experience, the audience stays uncertain and doubtful of
what happens next. The reader remains uncomfortable about the
story, and the purpose of the horror genre is to cause feelings of fear,
dread, repulsion, and terror in the audience.

In The Black Cat, Poe also relies on foreshadowing – the technique

that helps him to promote a sense of horror regarding the following
events. The idea of foreshadowing is to grant a reader with certain
expectations – unease and dread, as in the case of Poe’s short
stories. For instance, The Black Cat starts with the narrator’s
statement about some horrible events that happened to him: “In their
consequences, these events have terrified – have tortured – have
destroyed me” (Poe 1). However, the narrator avoids saying what
happened directly. Instead, he adds details like about the domestic or
logical nature of the incident, which makes it seem more horrible and
gruesome. Poe understands that calling things by their proper names,
namely revealing the truth about domestic violence and murder, will
never have the same impact on the audience if he holds the truth by
using foreshadowing. In this scenario, suspense helps to create more
powerful imagery as the reader is kept in the dark, and his mind
conjures the worst.

Another successful example of foreshadowing is the narrator’s

hesitation when speaking about the change in the second cat’s mark.

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The author writes, “It was now the representation of an object that I
shudder to name – and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and
would have rid myself of the monster had I dared” (Poe 14). In this
passage, Poe delays the moment of telling that the cat’s mark took the
form of the gallows. By using foreshadowing, the author adds to the
reader’s state of nervousness, which contributes to the overall
atmosphere of horror in The Black Cat.
By its genre, The Black Cat refers to horror fiction as it appeals to one
of the oldest and strongest fears in human life that is the fear of the
unknown. From ancient times, humanity was afraid and beware of
anything it could not explain. Accordingly, the short story dwells on the
mental malady, which frequently results in perversity by revealing the
evil side of every human being. Madness is used to inspire terror
because other people rarely know what to expect from a person with
mental disability. The narrator’s psychological issues in The Black Cat
are visible with a naked eye: “he maims an innocent cat, hangs it, kills
his wife in a fit of temper, and finally hides her rotting corpse behind a
brick wall” (Elswick 1). Nevertheless, throughout the text, the narrator
continues to deny his madness. He attributes his violence towards
external factors, including alcoholism or even cats’ behavior, and
refuses to acknowledge the possibility of his unstable mental health.

As the narrator starts to engage in the first acts of violence, the short
story instills terror because its events go out of control of the reader,
and the audience cannot predict the narrator’s behavior anymore. As

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said, they start to fear of the unknown – the narrator’s brutal behavior
and its outcomes. Moreover, alcohol in The Black Cat appears as a
catalyst for the narrator’s attacks of madness. The narrator confesses,
“I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of
the feelings of others” (Poe 4). The consumption of alcohol reveals the
narrator’s most evil nature, and this is one more moment where the
story attributes to the fear of the unknown.

In particular, Poe raises the question of malice as the inherent part of

human nature. The belief in the two sides of personality – good and
evil – is preserved in multiple cultures, American included. The author
asks, “Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile
or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should
not?” (Poe 6). With this question, Poe makes the reader think about
the wicked side of a human being and worry about the moment when
and how this evil displays itself. Accordingly, the narrator blames “the
spirit of perverseness” for his murder of poor animals (Poe 6). Once
again, one could attribute this statement to the narrator’s attempt to
rationalize his madness and escape responsibility. Still, this plot twist
succeeds in intensifying unease and horror in The Black Cat by
making the audience fear the narrator’s inner demons.

Similar to modern horror films and literature, the setting also plays a
critical role in the short story to create the needed atmosphere. The
Black Cat is told from the cell of a prisoner, which creates a gloomy
atmosphere from the beginning. Then, the setting briefly moves to the

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pictures of the family neighborhood, where the narrator settles with his
lovely wife and a bunch of pets. Finally, a dark and grimy cellar
becomes the main setting of the story, and the narrator describes the
cellar as follows: “Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately
been plastered throughout with a rough plaster” (Poe 14). The story
starts and ends with the gloomy setting.

Importantly, this transition from a warm and cozy home to the confined
and moody cellar precisely coincides with the changes in the
narrator’s mental well-being and, hence, reflects the plot of The Black
Cat. The setting changes to a more confining place when the narrator
experiences increased psychological pressure and so-called
confinement. The narrator describes his state, “My wonder and my
terror were extreme” (Poe 9). Accordingly, his senses are heightened;
he commits to violence more often, which proves that the narrator’s
mental health has aggravated. He yet refuses of confirming it and
seeking help from other people. The narrator also denies any guilt and
remorse until he becomes felt trapped by his own consciousness. It is
no wonder that the story progresses into the cellar as it is the closest
place in the house and located beneath anything else. The setting
echoes the narrator’s inner state – deprived and confined, regardless
of his confidence and composure on the surface.

Finally, even old-fashioned language and complex, long sentences are

met in The Black Cat by the conventions of horror. Unlike first-person
narration, outdated vocabulary and complex sentence structures are

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to distance the story from the reader and make it seem more
mysterious and dark. For example, Poe uses such words as hitherto,
vile, thereupon, or wretchedness, which sets a cold tone in the short
story. Another illustrative example is the narrator’s use of such words
as “brute” or “breast” towards the cat, which seems inappropriate
names for a beloved pet and a devoted friend. However, the author
chooses these appeals on purpose as in “I took from my
waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the
throat” (Poe 5). Here the word “beast” adds drama to the passage and
fits into the overall gloomy atmosphere of the story.

With the same purpose, Poe chooses complex and lengthy sentences
over simpler sentence structures. A good example is the following
sentence: “I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity”
(Poe 5). Once again, multiple subordination creates a dramatic effect
in the story. The clauses also impose one onto another and reflect on
the main events and the narrator’s characterization (Malik 30). In other
words, the complex structure of the sentence reflects unease in The
Black Cat and the narrator’s psychological distress.

To sum up, horror has used to be one of the most challenging genres
to write in literature. The author writing horror fiction needs to be
talented enough to make a person scared and uneasy uncomfortable
only due to dark images and gloomy atmosphere created in the story.
Recognized as the master of a horror story, Edgar Allan Poe scares
his readers skillfully, and unease and disturbing images in his short

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story The Black Cat only prove the latter. The writer uses a whole
variety of literary techniques and devices to create a desirable
atmosphere of terror and discomfort. Among those most noticeable,
one can mention foreshadowing and writing from the first-person
perspective. Besides, the gloomy atmosphere in The Black Cat is
indebted to the grimy setting, the appeal to the fear of the unknown,
old-fashioned, and complex language.

Questions for Study and Discussion

Once students have read "The Black Cat," teachers can use the
following questions to spark discussion or as the basis for an exam or
written assignment:

​ Why do you think Poe chose "The Black Cat" as the title for this
story?

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​ What are the major conflicts? What types of conflict (physical,
moral, intellectual, or emotional) do you see in this story?
​ What does Poe do to reveal character in the story?
​ What are some themes in the story?
​ How does Poe employ symbolism?
​ Is the narrator consistent in his actions? Is he a fully developed
character?
​ Do you find the narrator likable? Would you want to meet him?
​ Do you find the narrator reliable? Do you trust what he says to
be true?
​ How would you describe the narrator's relationship with animals?
How does it differ from his relationships with people?
​ Does the story end the way you expected it to?
​ What is the central purpose of the story? Why is this purpose
important or meaningful?
​ Why is the story usually considered a work of horror literature?
​ Would you consider this appropriate reading for Halloween?
​ How essential is setting to the story? Could the story have taken
place anywhere else?
​ What are some of the controversial elements of the story? Were
they necessary?
​ What is the role of women in the text?
​ Would you recommend this story to a friend?
​ If Poe had not ended the story as he did, what do you think might
have happened next?

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​ How have views on alcoholism, superstition, and insanity
changed since this story was written?
​ How might a modern writer approach a similar story?

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