The Black Cat

Content Warning: This section references animal cruelty, alcohol addiction, domestic violence, and mental illness.

The story’s narrator and protagonist describes himself as gentle and compassionate by nature, with a particular respect for animals. His behavior would seem to contradict this portrait, as he abuses and eventually kills both his wife and his beloved pet cat. His actions themselves are equally erratic and contradictory; he weeps after killing Pluto but sleeps soundly after murdering his wife. The narrator ascribes his mood swings and violence to The Consequences of Alcohol Addiction, but it is difficult to know how much credence to give this assertion—or any that he makes—as he engages in deceptive narrative practices that qualify him as an unreliable narrator. For example, he invokes traditional superstitions about black cats as though to explain his behavior toward Pluto while simultaneously disavowing such superstitions. While it is possible that the narrator himself does not recognize what he is doing, this lack of self-awareness likewise makes his narration suspect.

Whether it is due to mental illness or intentional deceit, the narrator’s duality is a central thematic concern. His discussion of the “spirit of Perverseness” suggests that humans are not only naturally sinful but fundamentally alien to themselves, doomed to commit horrible acts against their will and without even understanding why. Whether this is true of all people, it certainly seems true of him; in fact, this pessimism about human nature may itself be part of the darker side of the narrator’s personality, which he successfully represses as a young man but which ultimately overpowers him. When discussing his lifelong fondness of animals, he remarks on the “paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man” (223). This cynicism about the goodness and morality of human beings foreshadows his eventual decline into addiction and cruelty. His maiming and killing of Pluto can be understood as a symbolic effort to reconcile the cognitive dissonance that plagues him. Although he hints at the cat’s possibly evil intentions, it in fact serves as his conscience; this is why he partially blinds it, depriving it of the ability to see and judge him. Ultimately, however, his actions only exacerbate his sense of guilt. The narrator also demonstrates the tragic flaw of hubris, which leads him to boast in front of the police, resulting in his arrest.