“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe Story Review (But Not Really)
Yesterday was a pretty remarkable day of my life — and I’m not exaggerating this, yes, it’s the day when I read my first fiction after what it felt like months. I was bored out of my mind and decided to scroll through e-books, specifically in short stories section, and found this very interesting one by the famous writer Edgar Allan Poe. I know what you’re thinking, yes, this story is almost ancient, it was first published in 1843 (177 years ago, hell). I might be very late to jump in the train — the station’s might even be haunted & abandoned, but there’s something about this story, I’m mesmerized by how it’s terrifying but hilarious at the same time.
It is said that this story is a short horror fiction, which told by an unreliable narrator whose sanity is questionable. He started by telling the reader about his noble self in his past life, how he loved animals, and how he was married with a woman who also loved the brutes as much as he was. They both had beautiful adorable pets, many of it. One of them was a black cat named Pluto, who he cared the most. But soon, those tenderness was casted away by a sudden unexpected cruelty of hatred. The narrator himself didn’t know why he experienced such despicable feelings towards the innocent brutes. As how many readers would’ve expected, they all ended in the pit.
Something that piqued my interest was that exact unexpected turn of feelings. Told in the story that the cat’s fondness towards the narrator was the one that made him disgusted and annoyed, thus became the reason of his wicked actions. This also was the one that tickled my guts, cause of how relatable the situation was. It didn’t happen just once, and I also didn’t seem to have any visible reasons. One’s pure fondness towards others could unexpectedly backfire, and not in a good way. I’m sure I could not be the only one who’s experienced this multiple times for no reason, but I’ve never told anyone about this unexplainable feeling, so I know not much. I’ve done some research as to why this feeling might appear, but I can’t relate to any of the results. As the narrator said, it was the reverse of what he has anticipated, and he didn’t know how or why it happened.
It is such a shame, indeed, to experience such malicious but inevitable feeling especially to the ones who truly care about us. I’m sure Pluto and the other black cat which replaced it after meant no harm to the narrator, just as the people in my past life was. The story ended in a sort of happy ending for the readers, the once noble but turned wicked man was caught and suffered by the consequences of his own actions. But, was it the ending he deserved? As mentioned earlier, the man didn’t plan for any of it to happen, but at some point in the story it somehow showed that he took joy for what he has done despite it being caused by something that he didn’t wish nor expected. Exactly how does it work? Why something pure and harmless could agitate a person so much it could lead to the destruction of the other? Why a once warm tenderness of feeling could turn into something so repulsive? There’s a lot of questions which I’ll try to find the answers right after I published this first story on my page (hooray?). Thanks for anyone who might stumbled upon and decided to read this random post, until next time.
Bibliography:
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Black Cat.” American Literature to 1865, Indian River State College Libraries, 2018, https:irsc.libguides.com/AML2010/EdgarAllanPoe.
