Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat'

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Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat is a very difficult read, but allows readers to think outside the box, and expand on the interpretation of the Poe’s meaning in the story. His story is very expressive and visual and I believe that Poe wants his readers to believe in karma and superstition by relating the black cat as a witch in disguise, and violent crimes with acts of reminder and guilt. Poe’s narrator suffers from distorted thoughts, and is a man who is mentally aware of his psychotic behavior and transformation of himself. Roberta Reeder has argued and interpreted the text comparing the narrator Poe describes in his story with Jungian psychology that can give a better understanding of why the narrator acts very violently, and in repression.…show more content…
She portrays his conscience is persuaded by his animus, and creates the need for his instinctive actions, but those actions come back to haunt him, like karma. She explains that he attempts to destroy his anima rather than channel it properly, and a lot of it cannot be channeled due to his alcohol addiction, causing him to fulfill his harsher desires. Roberta expresses that, “He hangs the cat, the concrete representation of his anima, but this only delays its reappearance… the failure of the narrators attempt to rid himself of his anima is in embodied in the cats reappearance.” I agree with her statement here fully as she explains that although the narrator is fulfilling his tasks, the reappearance of what he thinks he has repressed only comes back to haunt him. She greatly expresses the importance of mindset, and how it can affect the attitude and behavior of a person dramatically. Roberta reasons her argument with how the narrator’s mind is dramatically misleading, portraying things as evil especially the cat, although he is incorrect about his judgments, his anima tells him

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