Facing Our Inner Black Cat

Black Cat

My students are fascinated by the gothic fiction of Edgar Allen Poe and, after receiving several essays on “The Black Cat,” I now have a better sense why. Basically it comes down to being sensitive in an environment that punishes sensitivity.

To remind you of the story, the narrator is an inmate on death row who recounts how he was once an animal lover before he went insane. In an alcoholic rage, he gouges out the eye of his pet cat, who heretofore has adored him. Then the painful sight of his maimed pet prompts him to hang it, after which a fire burns down his house and a burn silhouette of the hanged cat appears on the one wall that remains standing. Then another black cat joins the family, this one having but one eye and a white mark resembling a noose. Goaded with rage, the narrator prepares to kill it with an axe but, when his wife intervenes, he directs the axe against her instead. He buries her behind a basement wall and bangs on this wall to show the police that nothing is to be found there. The pounding, however, elicits a meow from the black cat, which he has accidentally walled up with the dead body of his wife.

The different student interpretations of the story overlap although each is propelled by its own story.

–Max, a lacrosse player, was struck by the ribbing that the narrator takes from his buddies over his great love for animals. To appear more manly, he pushes this sensitivity under so that the sight of his faithful cat becomes abhorrent to him. He gouges out the eye that can still “see” the repressed tenderness and then, overwhelmed by guilt at how he has maimed the creature he loved, kills it. As the childhood song puts it, however, “the cat came back,” which is to say he can never permanently bury his sensitivity, whether in the form of cat or wife.

Max also talked about the Virginia lacrosse player who killed his girlfriend, and he mentioned other instances he had witnessed of teammates reacting badly to lacrosse’s macho culture.

–Amanda, delicate, sensitive and intelligent, talked about how she was drawn, as a high school student, to Alesana’s song “Murderer,” which has in its lyrics, “You should know I’m dangerous. My thirst for blood turns me on… How sweet…” To explain her attraction, Amanda talked about being teased for her sensitivity in high school and of burying her hurt so that other students wouldn’t make fun of her. She felt guilty about her attraction to Alesana and to Poe because it didn’t match up with her self image of someone who was kind and considerate. Only when she started acknowledging that she wasn’t a bad person for having such thoughts did the dark fantasies lessen in intensity.

You can see why the “The Black Cat” would draw her. Noting that burial images are to found not only in “The Black Cat” but also “The Telltale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” she saw Poe as a way of understanding dark thoughts that one has buried. Once one sees them as natural rather than as shameful, they become less toxic.

–For a third student, Gabby, both “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” reminded her of a friend who had a voice defect. After being teased on the school bus by a bully one day, the friend stopped talking. Drawing on this experience, Gabby surmised that Poe was addressing the plight of those who don’t fit in with normal society.

At first Gabby thought that the alcoholism of the narrator in  “The Black Cat” and Roderick’s mental instability in “House of Usher” were what separated them from society, but as we discussed the matter further, she decided that these were symptoms rather than causes. Gabby theorized that the narrator turns to alcohol because repressing his anger is so painful that he turns to inhibition-lowering drink to express that anger openly. It’s an understatement to say that alcohol is not the recommended outlet.

—-A fourth student. Bethany, found solace in the story after being suddenly dropped by her boyfriend. In her interpretation, the narrator tries to stop caring. She was particularly struck by the peace he appears to find after he kills his wife. Poe writes,

My next step was to look for the beast [the cat] which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its  fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of  my previous anger, and forebore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night — and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul ! The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not.  Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme! The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had been instituted  — but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked upon my future felicity as secured. 

As we discussed his state of mind, we decided that he is only experiencing temporary relief, not genuine solace. He thinks that the secret to peace is simply refusing to care (thus the lack of remorse for his wife). His banging on the wall, however, is not a sign of confidence but of an anxious sense that he may not have effectively buried his heart. Indeed, he discovers that he has not when his pounding elicits a meow from his conscience.

As I told Bethany, her suffering indicates that she has a big heart. Pain can be the price we pay for caring.

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