LESSON 49
Today’s Agenda
1. SAT Question of the Day #6
2. “The Black Cat”
1. Quiz
2. Questions 1-15
3. Literary Devices on backside of handout
4. Video
SAT Question of the Day #6
Because our supply of fossil fuel has been sadly ____, we must find
____ sources of energy.
a. stored…hoarded
b. compensated…significant
c. exhausted…inefficient
d. increased…available
e. depleted…alternative
“THE BLACK CAT”
QUIZ
“THE BLACK CAT”
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
What questions do you have over 1-14?
Characterization
◦ Direct
◦ Author specifically states this information.
◦ “The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.”
◦ Author directly tells the reader that the boy was “patient” and the girl was “well mannered.”
◦ Indirect
◦ Speech: What does the character say? How does the character speak?
◦ Thoughts: What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and feelings?
◦ Effect: What is the effect on others toward the character. What is revealed through the character’s effect on
other people? How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to the character?
◦ Actions: What does the character do? How does the character behave?
◦ Looks: What does the character look like? How does the character dress?
Plot of “The Black Cat”
◦ Exposition
◦ The narrator is presumably in jail and awaiting to be executed. He sets the tone and mood of the
novel with his anxious talk, where he says that something terrible has happened, and also that
something has terrified him.
◦ The time period is 1800s. (word choice and sentence structure)
◦ Conflict (Inciting Incident)
◦ Narrator has a massive drinking problem. The way that this is conveyed is when he explains that, after
getting his pet- a black cat named Pluto- he had developed a tendency to drink heavily. As a result, he
is abusing his pets and even his wife,
◦ […] through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance [I] had (I blush to confess it) experienced
a radical alteration for the worse.
◦ Rising Action
◦ He first tortures Pluto by taking off its eye. Then he hangs the cat. This horrible scene sets the
scenario for something even more terrible, as now it is clear that the narrator has lost control of
himself and, eventually, of his fate.
Plot of “The Black Cat”
◦ Climax
◦ “something" or "someone" set the narrator's house on fire. This means that all of the belongings of the
family are also burned and they all become destitute. This could be seen as the afterlife revenge of Pluto.
◦ Falling Action
◦ the entrance of another black cat to the story. We do not know if this is a Pluto evil comeback. We only
know that this further complicates the situation for the narrator, as now he is being literally haunted by a
living being.
◦ The narrator murders his wife. The narrator, who has clearly lost his mind had not yet told why he was in
jail in the first place. Now we know that, during one of his persecution moments he kills his wife (he
intended to kill the cat) with an ax and so he hides the body. The narrator confesses that he does not care
so long as the black cat does not return.
◦ Resolution
◦ He is found out and the crime is exposed because the sounds of a meowing cat were heard coming from
the wall. It could be considered divine justice or perhaps part of the insanity of the narrator.
Point of View
◦ What is the POINT OF VIEW of the story?
◦ 1st person
◦ How do you know?
◦ 1st person pronouns
◦ Example?
◦ “For the most wild, yet most homely narrative
which I am about to pen…”
◦ Why must you be a cautious reader when you
have a story told in 1st person?
◦ Reliable narrator???????
“THE BLACK CAT”
VIDEO