Hello, Block 2!
Click here to access a PDF copy of The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe. This is your best bet if you want to print it.
Click here for a link to an online ebook version of The Black Cat. This is easier to read online-- larger font.
After you read the story, answer at least one of the following questions in a blog post. The idea of blogging is to create a discussion, not post individual mini-essays. Please respond to other posters and feel free to ask questions. This should look like a written Socratic seminar.
Questions:
Now that you have read two stories by Poe, consider his style. What elements of each story do you see as unique to Poe's style?
What is the "fiend Intemperance" and how does it affect the story?
What is Poe's purpose and to what extent did he achieve it?
How does the narrator define "perverseness"? Do you agree with the definition? Do you agree that this is human nature?
The "fiend intemperance" is the narrator's alcoholism and his inability to control it. This causes him to make irrational decisions and commit vicious acts of violence such as gouging his cats eye out. This action is the basis of the future conflicts in the story. The "fiend intemperance" adds to the supernatural mood of the story by serving as an unseen, but powerful force, similar to what set the narrator's house on fire.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eric in that the "fiend intemperance" is the narrator's alcoholism. The narrator's uncontrolled temper and violence brought on by his alcoholism are the main sources of the conflicts within this story. Going off of that, I think the authors purpose was to induce the reader with fear of the uncontrolled acts and impulsive decisions in which a person with alcoholism makes. Poe succeeded in this because throughout the book, the reader is has a constant fear of what the narrator with do next, whether it be to the cat, his wife, or himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eric that Fiend Intemperance is referring to the narrator's alcoholism and because of the narrator's alcoholism it has caused him to do some pretty ghastly things. He took out one of his cats, Pluto's eye, because he was drunk. Here's a quote on page 2 of the PDF file, "...much intoxicated...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...I took...a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by his throat, and deliberately cut on of its eyes from the socket!" (Poe 2). When he became sober, he realized what he had done and felt guilty for it. Years later after Pluto was long gone and the narrator and his wife moved somewhere else due to their house burning down, the narrator went back to the wreckage of his old home and found another cat like Pluto. It was even missing an eye. As time went on due to his alcoholism, he started to go mad and wanted to kill the cat. His wife, however, stopped him but this only made him angrier and he killed her too.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Eric that "fiend intemperance" is referring to alcoholism throught this story. Poe describes himself as a drunk who loves his pets, especially Pluto, a black cat. Poe seems very careless to his wife as he cursed at her and was an awful husband towards her. Poe had a serious problem with always being intoxicated. One night, he was so drunk he took a knife out of his pocket and cut one of Pluto's eyes' out of the socket. Poe was too drunk to even think about his actions. He had a serious issue that he just could not fix. "Fiend intemperance" is important throughtout this story because Poe is describing himself with trying to deal with alcohol but once he feels some sort of pain or emotion, he jumps right to the gin in order to take anything off his mind. I don't think any of the negative things that happen in this story would've happened if Poe stopped drinking for good.
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ReplyDeleteThe narrator defines "perverseness" as, "And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of Perverseness. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Phrenology finds no place for it among its organs. 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" (Poe 1). The narrator is claiming that directing one's self away from what is right or good is apart of human nature. I agree with this definition however I do not agree that perverseness is apart of human nature. The narrator begins the story with telling his audience that he is a happily married men who is kind hearted towards animals. As the story progresses and alcohol is introduced to the narrators daily life, he begins his downfall. "I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence" (Poe 1). The mood of the narrator and the story begins to shift. the vivacious and upbeat story turns dark and ominous. As alcohol becomes a more primitive subject in the narrators daily life, his actions become more violent. "But my disease grew upon me - for what disease is like Alcohol" (Poe 2). The narrator then, due to the result of his alcoholism, gets so intoxicated that he takes a pen-knife and cuts one of his cat's eyes out of his socket. To say that his actions are based off of his human nature to be perverse is incorrect. Although not all people make the right choice all of the time, that does not mean that doing something as gruesome as cutting the eye of a cat out is something that everyone could possibly do because of 'human nature.' Alcohol had a large factor in the decisions of the narrator and therefore it his claim of perverseness being a part of everyone's human nature is an incorrect assumption.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chase when she says that the definition of Perverseness is the one which the author uses, and also agree when she says it is not a part of human nature. "From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition" (Poe 1). The narrator is stating that from the very beginnings of his "independence" or self awareness, that he was docile and humane. Chase states that alcohol is what led to his downfall and I agree. There are poisons in life that can take over our lives such as alcohol did in the narrators case. It wasn't human nature that led him from his old ways; it was the alcohol. The narrator says, "one night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, i fancied that the cat avoided my presence... The fury of a demon possessed me. i knew myself no longer" (poe 2). The narrator directly states that the alcohol took him over and brought him to cut his poor cat's eye out. In the narrator's case, it is very clear that alcohol was controlling the decisions he made so it is false to assume that "perverseness" is a quality that is a part of everyone's nature.
DeleteA unique trait of Edgar Allan Poe’s writing is the dark nature. In both stories and others, he writes about murder and mental health. He writes about brutal heinous murders of not only people but also animals. In The House of Usher the main character had put his mentally unstable sister in a grave before she was deceased. In The Black Cat, Poe writes about the narrator hanging on cat and killing his wife with an axe.
ReplyDeleteFiend intemperance is the narrator’s way of addressing his alcoholism.
Edgar Allan Poe’s purpose was to highlight the perverseness of human culture. As humans we do such things that are considered sinful, Poe is showing this with satire. He uses extreme actions to show how humans can over drink or hurt others around them. Once he hurt the cat he felt guilty for hurting the cat so the narrator then hung the cat to rid him the guilt by committing a harsher crime than the first.
Poe defined perverseness as something that a common man does. That you often find yourself committing such sins and that you are often aware of such things. He views as something everyone does but doesn’t stop themselves from doing. Almost similar to Ben Franklin he feels that perfect is unachievable. Unlike Ben Franklin, Poe thinks that it doesn’t even matter. He believes that sins are committed and there is not much you can change about that.
I agree with Eric that the "fiend intemperance" is the narrators alcohol problem and his inability to control it. There are multiple parts in the story where alcohol causes him to make gruesome and irrational decisions like the part where he cuts out the eye of his cat Pluto. Another part is when he murders his wife. If the narrator didn't have a drinking issue, then these things would've never occurred.Poe's writing seems to always have a dark and creepy style to it.This style makes his work very interesting to read,
ReplyDeleteThe narrator defines perverseness as "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" (Poe 3). In simpler terms, it is essentially just a driving desire that causes people to act in certain ways. I do not agree with this definition, at least in the given context. Throughout The Black Cat, we see the actions of a man suffering from mood swings and alcoholism which drives him to a point of insanity. The narrator starts the story right away by saying, "Yet, mad I am not-and very surely do I not dream" (Poe 1). After reading the rest of the story and analyzing the narrator's actions throughout, this statement alone becomes proof that the narrator is in a mental state of insanity and confusion, so far gone that he can not even come to a realization about it. Therefore, his actions cannot be justified as "primitive impulses of the human heart" because his so called "perverseness" occurred after he had been succumbed to alcohol and madness. The narrator is clearly not in control of his own actions, as is seen when he so quickly murders his wife over a simple aggravation. None of the horrors that the narrator causes are due to human nature alone. If human nature does play a role, it is severely morphed by the narrator's illnesses.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the given definition of perverseness alone, though it does not apply to the narrator in the story, is a part of human nature. It is subdued in most people, only coming in to play in instances involving things such as sex, love, anger, or vengeance, and would most likely not lead to extremes such as murder. I would assume that there is the potential for it to get out of control and yield horrendous results, but I also do not believe that human nature can be discussed in situations involving heavy substance abuse. So overall, the given definition of perverseness does apply to most humans in mild ways but does not apply to the story itself.
I agree with what Maddy had said earlier about Edgar Allen Poe's purpose for writing this story. The purpose was to entertain. Through this entertainment it brought about the action of arousing emotions. The emotions that were evoked was fear about the crazy actions that can take place if someone is under the influence of alcohol. As everyone has used previously, "One night, returning home, much intoxicated... deliberately cut one of its eyes out of its socket!" (Poe 2) This demonstrates the fact that he was intoxicated because he blatantly stated he was. Hence portraying how it was because of the alcohol that he acted in such a terrifying manner. From my standpoint, Poe achieved his purpose. Throughout this story I was getting creped out the further I read, which was his purpose. Henceforth Poe's purpose for writing this story was to entertain and provoke an emotion of fear which was certainly achieved.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Poe’s short story of The Black Cat, he constantly refers to the horrendous effects of alcoholism, which include the hanging of his cat and the murder of his wife. Through these extreme actions, it can be concluded that Poe strongly denounces alcoholism, as it is the chief cause of conflict within the story, as Maddy stated.
ReplyDeleteAnother key point Poe writes of is the natural insecurity of man. Poe portrays man’s insecurity through the two key points of alcoholism and the various pets of the man. He refers to alcoholism as “mere household events”, concluding that alcoholism is common in the homes of man because this allows people to forget what life is about. If man were secure, we would not have to turn to such solutions and could live sober, which would prove the security of man. Having the various pets of birds, goldfish, a dog, rabbits, a small monkey and a cat all of whom are loving and faithful further proves man’s insecurity. In the beginning paragraphs of his story, Poe writes how both the man and his wife relied very much on the loyalty and love from animals as this kept them calm. Many of these animals including the dog and cat are known still today for their providing of security for those who lack that certain trait of confidence.
I think Poe’s purpose in writing this story was to expose what alcohol can do to your mind. Poe himself was an uncontrollable drunk. His own life experiences could have been an influence on his story. Poe wanted to show how the consumption of alcohol can ruin your sanity, like it did for him. The narrator first describes himself as a happy, sane man who loves animals. His mind becomes warped as he continues to drink. When he drinks, he becomes violent and aggressive. The narrator never wanted to hurt the cat while he was sober, but the alcohol affected his mind to make him want to hurt it. Since Poe himself suffered from a possible alcohol addiction, he could be expressing his own thoughts while he drinks through this story. Poe’s message to the reader is that alcohol can make you lose your sanity.
ReplyDeleteThe black cat can be a physical representation of his alcohol consumption. Before he drank, the cat was pure black. After he hurt the cat, it was tainted with white. This shows that the narrator himself was tainted with the consumption of alcohol. In the end, the cat is his downfall because it exposes him to the police that he murdered his own wife. The cat represents that you can’t hide your mistakes and that alcohol will only hurt you.