Poe Short Story Discussion Group

[LC_Lancer]

Originally Posted by LC_Lancer
I took it to mean that even though it might be wild, the story still has a basis in innocence or that since everyone has a place to feel at home, then he is toying with the idea that all is safe until that one moment when it changes forever.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/12/08 at 2:38pm
Yes, that is a good point. As this story is not going to be as surreal as Ligeia was, there is some base in reality. As well instead of taking place in some far away place, it takes place within a domestic everyday sort of situation.

I like the idea that this happened, or could happen, in any country. The 'domestic' setting is common no matter where one lays their head or what language they read. Poe is putting this in everyone's neighborhood.

[Dark Muse]

So here we have some background on the life of the narrator, as well as his general nature, what kind of person he is. And we have the first introduction to the cat which will become such an important part of the story. And this beginning of the story, is indeed very domestic. It could be any house. And this is a person that could be anyone's neighbor.

From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiar of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat. This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point --and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Pluto --this was the cat's name --was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets

.

[LC_Lancer]

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiar of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure.

From this paragraph, we get the sense that he has always liked animals and he was not cruel to them. He wants us to be drawn in to see him before the incident and see how much he changed.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

This was interesting to me. The indent of the paragraph was to establish his background and emotional state, however he did not want to go into the feelings he received from taking care of the animals and their affection to him. The narrator had other things to discuss and he knew the animal lovers would know exactly what he was talking about without using too many words.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.

The narrator told us he married early. It almost sounds to me that he was blaming the youthful marriage on his predicament. He loved the fact that his wife had the same temperament as himself. The line that caught me attention was “[animals of] the most agreeable kind.” I concluded that she would bring home animals as long as they had an ‘agreeable’ attitude. We can see the house was full of small animals (it would also depend on the size of the dog) to fulfill the maternal needs of the wife since the narrator did not mention children.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree.

The cat was as wise as the dog in the previous paragraph (he even used the same word). He seems to trust and like ‘wise’ animals, but will lambaste them later for the same reason.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point--and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

His wife is superstitious. She does not black cats. I take it he means 100% black since later she does not have a problem with a 95% black cat.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
Pluto--this was the cat's name--was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.

The naming of the cat was interesting to me.

The first thing I thought of was the Roman god of the Underworld (Hades in Greek). Poe would know about that.

Then the second thought was about the planet discovered in 1930 and re-classified in 2006. Poe would not know about this.

Then I found this about the astrological sign and Poe might know about the meaning.

Astrologically Pluto is called "the great renewer", and is considered to represent the part of a person that destroys in order to renew, through bringing buried, but intense, needs and drives to the surface and expressing them, even at the expense of the existing order. A commonly used keyword for Pluto is "transformation". It is associated with power and personal mastery and the need to co-operate and share with another, if each is not to be destroyed. Pluto governs big business and wealth, mining, surgery and detective work, and any enterprise which involves digging under the surface to bring the truth to light. Pluto is also associated with the day Tuesday along with Mars.

I couldn’t help myself so I kept reading and Poe would not have any inclination of the associations to come with the name of Pluto.

Pluto is also associated with extreme power and corruption; the discovery of Pluto in 1930 coincided with the rise of fascism and Stalinism in Europe, leading to the Second World War. It also coincided with the Great Depression and the major proliferation of organized crime in the United States. Its entry into Cancer in 1913, the sign in which it was later discovered, coincided with the First World War. It is also associated with nuclear armament, which had its genesis in the research of the 1930s and 40's. Later on, it gave rise to the polarised nuclear stand off of the Cold War, with the mass consumer societies of the United States and other democracies facing the totalitarian state socialism of the USSR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets_in_astrology#Pluto

[Dark Muse]

From this paragraph, we get the sense that he has always liked animals and he was not cruel to them. He wants us to be drawn in to see him before the incident and see how much he changed.

Yes, here is setting up for us what his personality is like, that in his past he showed none of the inclinations of what is to come later in the stroy. This is what makes his attitrudes that are to happen, more horrifying, that they are in fact not within his nature.

Also it sets up that he had a good family life. This could be another way of showing how these things could happen to anyone. He was brought up in a happy childhood, with parents who indulged him.

This was interesting to me. The indent of the paragraph was to establish his background and emotional state, however he did not want to go into the feelings he received from taking care of the animals and their affection to him. The narrator had other things to discuss and he knew the animal lovers would know exactly what he was talking about without using too many words.

I think that in this passage he is also trying to establish further intimacy with the reader by appealing to fellow pet lovers he is placing himself among them, by saying "I know you will know what I mean" he is presenting himself in a familair way, instead of being an "outsider" to the reader.

The narrator told us he married early. It almost sounds to me that he was blaming the youthful marriage on his predicament. He loved the fact that his wife had the same temperament as himself. The line that caught me attention was “[animals of] the most agreeable kind.” I concluded that she would bring home animals as long as they had an ‘agreeable’ attitude. We can see the house was full of small animals (it would also depend on the size of the dog) to fulfill the maternal needs of the wife since the narrator did not mention children.

It is interesting his use of the world "agreeable" which seems to suggest that indeed he only likes animals or desires to have animals that are of a certain temperment. The other thing which is interesting about this, is that a cat can in fact be seen as quite the oppisite of "agreeable" birds and fish are small, well contained. The dog, could be large or small, but either way dogs are easily trianable, and known for thier loyalty and obedience.

While cats are known to be independent, and unruly, cannot be trained easily, and tend to have very much a mind of thier own.

I personally did not get the feeling, that he was trying to blame his "young" marraige upon the events, as it never really comes up again. I think it is just to fruther show what an agreeable and happy person he was, that he found love in his life early.

His wife is superstitious. She does not black cats. I take it he means 100% black since later she does not have a problem with a 95% black cat.

Considering the events that are to happen later, can we truly belive the narrator when he tells us

I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

I think dropping this line about the wife, and the connection to black cats and witches and superstion is Poe toying with the reader, as well it is reminidng the reader that this story is going to be more then just a happy tale of a man's contented married life.

[The naming of the cat was interesting to me.

The first thing I thought of was the Roman god of the Underworld (Hades in Greek). Poe would know about that.

Then the second thought was about the planet discovered in 1930 and re-classified in 2006. Poe would not know about this.

Then I found this about the astrological sign and Poe might know about the meaning.


I couldn’t help myself so I kept reading and Poe would not have any inclination of the associations to come with the name of Pluto.

That is interesting information regaurding the name of the cat, as well as the addtional background information. I presumed that the cat was intended to be named after the Underworld god.

[LC_Lancer]

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/15/08 at 02:16 PM
It is interesting his use of the world "agreeable" which seems to suggest that indeed he only likes animals or desires to have animals that are of a certain temperment. The other thing which is interesting about this, is that a cat can in fact be seen as quite the oppisite of "agreeable" birds and fish are small, well contained. The dog, could be large or small, but either way dogs are easily trianable, and known for thier loyalty and obedience.

While cats are known to be independent, and unruly, cannot be trained easily, and tend to have very much a mind of thier own.

I personally did not get the feeling, that he was trying to blame his "young" marraige upon the events, as it never really comes up again. I think it is just to fruther show what an agreeable and happy person he was, that he found love in his life early.

It is also interesting to me that the cat was a natural predator to two of the other mentioned pets.
No, I meant the comment about the small or large dog as epilogue to my previous statement: We can see the house was full of small animals.
I just got the impression that he might have just a hint of resentment at marrying so young. Life and marriage are tough no matter what age one begins, but it would be an even tougher road if they started early. I know that people did marry early when the story was written (even in the Poe household). That might have been one of the stresses in the narrator’s life that led him to drink to excess.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/15/08 at 02:16 PM
I think dropping this line about the wife, and the connection to black cats and witches and superstion is Poe toying with the reader, as well it is reminidng the reader that this story is going to be more then just a happy tale of a man's contented married life.

I do not think the narrator would mislead the reader willing. He mentioned the new (95% black cat) stayed new his wife. If she did not want the cat around, she could have made it quite unpleasant for the cat. His wife did not take to the 100% black cat. Since she was ‘superstitious’, we can presume that she invited the second cat to be her companion because it was not all black (the habitat for witches) or she just wanted to protect the second cat from his anger.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/15/08 at 02:16 PM
That is interesting information regaurding the name of the cat, as well as the addtional background information. I presumed that the cat was intended to be named after the Underworld god.

So did I, but after reading the astrological meaning, I have changed my mind. Since we know that Poe writes with the ending already planed out, then his choices of names are also important.

[Dark Muse]

I do not think the narrator would mislead the reader willing. He mentioned the new (95% black cat) stayed new his wife. If she did not want the cat around, she could have made it quite unpleasant for the cat. His wife did not take to the 100% black cat. Since she was ‘superstitious’, we can presume that she invited the second cat to be her companion because it was not all black (the habitat for witches) or she just wanted to protect the second cat from his anger. [/COLOR]

If you will read my post carefully you will see, I was not suggusting that he was lying about the wife being supersitious, but can we honestly belive the narrator when he says the only reason he tells us this is becasue he causually remembered it, and that this connection and mention does not have a greater purpose in the story.

I was questioning this particular statement

I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Not what he acutally said about his wife.

[LC_Lancer]

Unfortunately, I interpreted what you wrote differently than you intended.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/15/08 at 02:16 PM
Considering the events that are to happen later, can we truly belive the narrator when he tells us

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

I think dropping this line about the wife, and the connection to black cats and witches and superstion is Poe toying with the reader, as well it is reminidng the reader that this story is going to be more then just a happy tale of a man's contented married life.

Since Poe wrote with the ending in mind, we could agree that he dropped it here to give us another interpretation of the events, but I do not think he is suggesting the cat is a witch because the narrator does not believe. However, the wife would have.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/16/08 at 02:13 PM
.. can we honestly belive the narrator when he says the only reason he tells us this is becasue he causually remembered it, and that this connection and mention does not have a greater purpose in the story.

I was questioning this particular statement

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/16/08 at 02:13 PM
Not what he acutally said about his wife.

Can we truly belive the narrator?

Yes, since the narrator has been through a fire, addicted to alcohol, murder, and attempted cover up not to mention a trial, sentencing, and waiting for the event while thinking about the cat only (or more specifically how it came to be in the wall), then yes, it might have slipped his mind about her until he was writing about it.

[Dark Muse]

Knowing what we know both of how this story is going to turn out, and Poe's writing in general, I think that there is a very specicic reason why the bit about "witches" and his wife's suspersition is mentioned, as it does not play an active role in the story, it is ineed a device Poe is using. The story could be told just the same without the reader knowing anything about the wife being supersistious. It is planting the suggestion of the supernatural, and pehraps a bit of foreshadow.

[Dark Muse]

Here we have the relationship of the narrator with the cat, and the starting of the deterioration of the narrators once agreeable and amenable personality.

Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character --through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance --had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me --for what disease is like Alcohol! --and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish --even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame. 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! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

When reason returned with the morning --when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch --I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

[LC_Lancer]

It sounds as if you are asking two different questions here, but expecting one answer.

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/16/08 at 3:11pm
Knowing what we know both of how this story is going to turn out, and Poe's writing in general, I think that there is a very specicic reason why the bit about "witches" and his wife's suspersition is mentioned, as it does not play an active role in the story, it is ineed a device Poe is using. The story could be told just the same without the reader knowing anything about the wife being supersistious. It is planting the suggestion of the supernatural, and pehraps a bit of foreshadow.

I wrote previously that I thought Poe 'planted' the information on purpose because he writes with the ending in mind.


However, you also asked,

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10/16/08 at 02:13 PM
.. can we honestly belive the narrator when he says the only reason he tells us this is becasue he causually remembered it, and that this connection and mention does not have a greater purpose in the story.

And I stated, yes, because of the drama and trauma in his life he may not have thought about that aspect of his wife's personality until the confessional.

[Dark Muse]

Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character --through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance --had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse.

Here it seems that this change which comes over him is something which seems to happen gradually over a period of time. It is not abrupt or sudden. This could refelct back to what you mentioned earlier, that it was from the early marraige, as time grows on, stress perhaps is wearing upon him and building feelings of resenement.

But here he makes the cat as the main focus. The wife later he mentions more as just an after thought. But he is refering to his relationship with the cat in these lines.

I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them.

So now we see how his behavior is starting to change, and seems to be escalulating with each passing day.

I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence.

I find the choice of wording in this line to be quite currious.

When he talks about how he treated his wife, he makes the focus upon him by saying "I suffered myself" this indicates he is thinking more about how his actions affected him then how they in fact affected his wife.

And then I found the use of "offered her personal violence" to be a rather currious way of putting things, as well the term "offer' is not often used in connection with something negative.

For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me --for what disease is like Alcohol!

So here he finally lets on to the cause of his change in behviaor, his use of Alchohol.

When I read this at first, I found Poe's use of the word diesease in connection with his drinking to be interesting, as I had not thought that Alchohol was viewed upon in that way during Poe's time, and that that was a more modern concept but then I did some research, and this is what I found:

The Scottish physician Thomas Trotter (1760-1832), was the first to characterize excessive drinking as a disease, or medical condition.

The American physician Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence -- who understood drunkenness to be what we would now call a "loss of control" -- was, perhaps, the first to use the term "addiction" in this sort of meaning.

Rush argued that "habitual drunkenness should be regarded not as a bad habit but as a disease"

and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish --even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper

Pluto his the last to begin to feel the effect of his ill-temper, I think his is another way in which the importance of the cat is emphisized over the others, and a way of brigning focus back upon the cat. While the wife and other pets are really just in the background.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth.

So the other pets he grows annoyed with for "getting in his way" yet when he imgagines Pluto is avioding him this causes him to fall upon the cat in anger.

The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame.

This is very drmatic pose and I think we can feel the growing exciement in the narrator as he begins to tell us of this part of the story, as perviously the story was told in a rather matter of fact way, but these words have an extra flourish to them.

I think interesting use of the word demon here, as we say in Ligeia who he said his loathing for Rowena was like something demonic, and here he links his anger toward the cat as being something like a demon. He also trys to excuse himself for his actions, by saying that it was not truly himself, but something else which has taken over him.

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! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

We can feel the mounting exciement now as he tells of the terrible event.

I blush, I burn, I shudder

I just love this and I love the progression from "blushing to burning" and then at least the shuder which would seem an action oppisite to that of one who burns. But we can feel how the horror of it is coming upon him again.

When reason returned with the morning --when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch --I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

Here he still has some humanity left as when he sobers up he feels some remorse for what he has done, but it is only a passing moment, and he soon returns to his old habbit once again.

[LC_Lancer]

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10-18-2008, 01:38 PM
So now we see how his behavior is starting to change, and seems to be escalulating with each passing day.

That would be the affects of long term alcohol abuse. It would also affect him slowly, so slowly that he may not notice the change.
===

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10-18-2008, 01:38 PM
When he talks about how he treated his wife, he makes the focus upon him by saying "I suffered myself" this indicates he is thinking more about how his actions affected him then how they in fact affected his wife.

Yes, I agree that he was “thinking more about how his actions affected him” than how his actions affected others. He could have been blaming the alcohol. I think he feels remorse because the alcohol makes him do things he would not normally do (as mentioned to us in the first paragraph).
===

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10-18-2008, 01:38 PM
And then I found the use of "offered her personal violence" to be a rather currious way of putting things, as well the term "offer' is not often used in connection with something negative.

The term offered could mean he swung at her, but she ducked or (more generally) she did not stand in his way when he was drunk.
===

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
But my disease grew upon me --for what disease is like Alcohol!

I found it curious that he asked this question. (Ok, I know it is not punctuated as a question). The point is valid. Alcohol is another disease that only affects the person after being consumed. It does not infect the person on it own. It takes the patient to ingested the disease to take affect. That is not to say that long term alcoholism does not affect the body, but it would not have been in the body unless the person consumed it.
You found some interesting items in your research. So it is likely that Poe knew that some people viewed it as a disease.
===

Originally Posted by Dark Muse on 10-18-2008, 01:38 PM
Here he still has some humanity left as when he sobers up he feels some remorse for what he has done, but it is only a passing moment, and he soon returns to his old habbit once again.

I agree. I wrote in my notes that he ‘felt sad about his actions against the cat, but not enough to quit drinking’.

[Dark Muse]

[COLOR="darkBlue"][SIZE="3"]Yes, I agree that he was “thinking more about how his actions affected him” than how his actions affected others. He could have been blaming the alcohol. I think he feels remorse because the alcohol makes him do things he would not normally do (as mentioned to us in the first paragraph)

Yes I agree, I think he does feel remorse that the alchohol is making him behave badly yet at the same time, it never concenrs him enough to make

[The term offered could mean he swung at her, but she ducked or (more generally) she did not stand in his way when he was drunk.

Yes that could be. I thought perhaps maybe it was just a strange 1800s way of using langauge.

I found it curious that he asked this question. (Ok, I know it is not punctuated as a question). The point is valid. Alcohol is another disease that only affects the person after being consumed. It does not infect the person on it own. It takes the patient to ingested the disease to take affect. That is not to say that long term alcoholism does not affect the body, but it would not have been in the body unless the person consumed it.

Yes, it is true, he does present it as a sort of question here. For it is true alchohosim, is not a true disease, though people have a tendency to view it as a disease, but it is something within the persons control. If they stop drinking, then it will stop affecting them. As well they are the cause. A person does not "catch" alchohsim.

They bring it upon themselves.

[Dark Muse]

Here we have a most deadful event which helps change the course of the story and a stronger suggestion of the supernatural begins to be woven into the story.

In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart --one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. 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? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself --to offer violence to its own nature --to do wrong for the wrong's sake only --that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; --hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; --hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offense; --hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin --a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it --if such a thing were possible --even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair. I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts --and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire --a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with every minute and eager attention. The words "strange!" "singular!" and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvelous. There was a rope about the animal's neck.

When I first beheld this apparition --for I could scarcely regard it as less --my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd --by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, had then with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.

[GREENWOLFE1962]

I just wanted to make a general comment on Poe's view of short
stories . I agree with Poe completely . What he is really trying to
do , is convey the idea that you must not play around with your
theme . So many writers fall in love with writing itself . As a writer ,
your duty is to the reader . You must not include what you wish
to include , only what is useful to your purpose .

Greenwolfe 1962