The Black Cat Symbolism

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Edgar Allan Poe lost so many people he loved to the disease Tuberculosis. He grew up with only a mother because his father abandoned their family. He also had two other siblings. Mrs. Poe died from Tuberculosis. Edgar Poe and his siblings were split up into different homes. He was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Allen. Mrs. Allen also ended up dying from T.B. and his wife died from T.B. as well. The losses Poe suffered influenced the literary elements he used. Poe’s literature often requires the reader to read the selection more than once to fully grasp what Poe truly meant. This is because of his clever use of symbolism. In The Black Cat, the narrator’s favorite pet is a cat named Pluto, which is the name of the God of the Underworld. Black …show more content…
Poe’s use of foreshadowing is often only realized after reading the selection. The second cat, from The Black Cat, foreshadowing the death of the narrator. The cat looked exactly like Pluto, except a white patch of fur on it's chest. As the story progresses the patch grows and is shaped like the gallows. The gallows is a device used for hanging criminals. This foreshadows the coming death of the narrator. The narrator is hung for the murder of his wife."it was now, I say, the image of a hideous -- of a ghastly thing -- of the GALLOWS !". In the first stanza of "Annabel Lee" the use of past tense gives the readers a subtle hint that Annabel Lee had died. "And this maiden she lived with no other thought/ Than to love and be loved by me."Foreshadowing was commonly used by Poe. Edgar Allan Poe's tragedies shaped his dark, twisted style of writing. Poe's lack of a childhood could have also been a factor. Edgar Allan Poe once said that he wanted the reader to have a single overwhelming impression while reading his selections. Some feelings many get while reading Poe's selection are disgust, confusion, and horror. Poe succeeded his goal of giving his reader an overwhelming

Symbolism In The Black Cat

can take many forms. Some people believe that black cats are a sign of evil. Black cats are said to bring bad luck into the lives of those who cross paths with them. In the story “The Black Cat” the main character owns a black cat and does not believe in the superstition that black cats are evil. Later in the story, the narrator blames the black cat for the unfortunate events that are happening in his life. Edgar Allan Poe uses repetition and symbolism in his story to suspend and express the evil…

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Symbolism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

stories; death, guilt, arrogance, and loss of sanity. All four of these themes are found in his tale, “The Black Cat”. The narrator of the story slowly turns from a soft, animal lover, to an insane murderer within a short amount of time. He is drawn to do, say, and act upon desires that well up inside him with seemingly no way to stop it. In “The Black Cat” Edgar Allan Poe uses narration and symbolism to convey the plunge into madness that leads to the deterioration of the narrator’s very life. Poe uses…

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Who Is The Antagonist In Black Cat

Black Cat Analyst Imagine the situation that your whole house burns down as you see a dead hanging cat haunting your memory. The the author , Edgar Allan Poe, uses various of literary elements in the short story because the Edgar attends to adds more depth and meaning to the short story. Black Cat is about a married couple and their cat named Pluto.The man gets angry and kills the cat because of his alcohol problem and build up…

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Poe Perverseness

“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe Have you ever thought of how perverseness can affect one's life? What would you do if perverseness of the mind took over your life? Would you stop making bad choices? In “The Black Cat”, by Edgar Allan Poe, a deranged narrator tells his readers about his experience of how a spirit of perverseness takes full control of him and it makes him commit gruesome crimes. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is in a prison cell awaiting his execution while he is waiting…

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The Dark Side of Poe Essay

majority of his works. One of the most noticeable themes that create the Gothic fiction of Edgar Allan Poe is death and darkness symbolism, these themes are used a lot in Gothic novels or short stories. In nearly every one of his tales, one of the characters has died or is being mourned and this sets the dark tone found in Poe’s works. He often used a combination of horror, symbolism, and fantasy in his settings to help create a Gothic mood within his stories. Horror takes a great part in Poe’s works, for…

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Obesity: Edgar Allan Poe Essay

” Evil’s Doing’s In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt. "The Black Cat," written by Edgar Allan Poe serves as a reminder for all of us. The Capacity for violence and horror lies within each of us, no matter how passive and humanitarian our disposition might appear. In this story, the narrator portrays a man who is fond of animals, had a tender heart, and is happily married…

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Addiction In The Black Cat

addiction to help cope with their problems and forget everything by drinking. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” the narrator has a drinking problem to help him forget. The narrator got addicted to “drink” and started using it because he believes his cat, Pluto, was messing with his head. He cannot remember what he has done while he is drunk. In “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism, flashback/forward, and foreshadowing to raise the stakes. First, the narrator starts to explain what has…

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Figurative Language In The Cask Of Amontillado

Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe married his cousin who was thirteen at the time .Edgar Allen Poe wrote stories about his grief.In most of Poe’s storys the narrator wanted to solve a problem .But he went around it the wrong way ,so people die and he gets caught.In Poe’s short stories the theme of grief causes many emotions shown through character,setting,and figurative language and symbol In Poe’s short story The Cask…

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Madness In The Tell-Tale Heart And The Black Cat

our hearts. Some of them are good, others are bad. It’s only when we act out the bad ones that we experience what the narrators of two of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories had. Grief. Consequences. Fear. Madness. In the stories The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat, both narrators realize their acts were wrong, but they did them anyway by rationalizing that they were driven by circumstance. In summary, The Tell-Tale Heart is about a man who is compelled to kill a friendly old man because of his one ‘evil’ eye…

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The Tell Tale Heart Symbolism Essay

Though tales of terror and mystery undoubtedly constitute a great portion of the modern world’s literature, such stories garnered rather little success in the ages directly preceding the current time. Throughout the decades prior to and including the 1800s, mediums of writing that incorporated elements of horror were quite rare, though a notable contributor to this genre, Edgar Allan Poe, published the entirety of his works during the aforementioned period. While he has attained near universal…

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