The Mysteries of a Black Cat

Hi all,

This next blog post covers Edgar Allan Poe's, "The Black Cat". It is another impressing piece of literature from Poe. It is recommended that one reads the story multiple times and very slowly each time, because it is a little difficult to determine the protagonist and antagonist, as well as the repressed emotions.

Discuss who could be the protagonist and antagonist in The Black Cat; explain your logic and reasoning for why? Please remember to use details and specifics from the story to support your response.

This week, I have read another Edgar Allen Poe story: “The Black Cat”. Sometimes is Poe’s literary works, it is very deceitful to determine whom the protagonist and the antagonist are of the story. However, this story is no different, where it is crucial to analyze the whole work before establishing who the protagonist and antagonist are. In Gothic Literature, the protagonist is one who either voluntarily or involuntarily isolate himself. In “The Black Cat”, the protagonist is the narrator, for he is retelling what he has committed. The narrator explains, “Yet, mad am I not-and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events” (Poe 63). This quote entails the remorse of the protagonist as he is about to be hanged. The protagonist becomes remorseful, as he describes his cat as shameful, annoying, and disgusting. However, one can see that the cat represents the repressed emotions of the protagonist. This means the attitude he describes towards the cat, are the emotions he describes himself as. To which, these emotions of himself are accurate, for his state of being is diminished with his alcoholism. Gothic Literature always portrays the antagonist of the story as the one who prevails in the end. “….-by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalus and inhuman- a howl-a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation” (Poe  70). This is where the police search the house of the protagonist, to find the evidence of his deed with this horrid scream. Immediately the police open up the wall, to see the murdered cat, where the fault lays upon the protagonist for the murder.       

What Gothic Literature that we've read so far is your favorite, explain why? (The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, The Minister's Black Veil, or The Black Cat)

Overall, my favorite Gothic Literature story is Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart”. What is significant about this text is the concentration of the repressed emotions of the protagonist. By reading the story, it is truly captivating to view such a vivid image of the protagonist’s repressed emotions of remorse and guilt in a dark setting. The protagonist explains, “Yes, he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions; but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel-although he neither saw nor heard-to feel the presence of my head within the room” (Poe 122). I could really relate to the protagonist’s emotions. The internal emotional world of the protagonist was portrayed very well too. The setting of the entire story was very dark and mysterious, which amplified the status of the protagonist. Reading about the remorse and guilt of the protagonist, was very passionate as it created an image in my head as if I was an onlooker on the scene as I read the story. Hence, when the narrator describes the beating heart, I could visualize the beating heart of the old man with the protagonist looking down on it with complete remorse and tears. Overall, this story of Poe’s is very realistic and deepening within Gothic Literature, and is was composed beautifully and with a great mind.

What are some similarities between all the Gothic Literature stories we've read so far? Again, be specific and use details in your response. 

In all, there is some life lesson or moral that is the concentration of each text, where the protagonist is affected and defeated by what he is trying to repress. In all Gothic Literature, the antagonist prevails over the protagonist, as the protagonist falls to his demise. In the Masque of the Red Death, the protagonist falls to his demise by the Red Death. The protagonist’s arrogance leads him to fall into the hands of the Red Death, as he was blinded by his society and was too absorbed with himself and his masquerade. In The Black Cat, the alcoholic protagonist finds his demise within his actions of murdering his first cat. His first black cat resurrects and becomes the protagonist’s second cat. When the protagonist murders the second cat, he places the cat inside of the wall so he does not have to live with his own disgust and annoyance. When the police arrive at the narrator's house, the cat in the wall screeches leaving the evidence of the murder, and the protagonist is left to his demise of being locked behind bars for his deeds. However, this same scenario is exemplified in The Cask of the Amontillado, where the protagonist is led drunkenly to his demise to be chained in the basement for his greed and lust for the Spanish sherry. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the protagonist murders an innocent old man. The protagonist buries the heart of the hold man underneath the floorboards in his home. When the police arrive at his home, the pressure and guilt of what he had done, leads him to his demise, as he exposes his deed and the beating heart of the old man to the police. In each of these stories, the protagonist reflects the internal emotional world of himself.     

That's what I have now, but I will be on in the next day or two to add more analysis, and post my supplements as well. Ps, I have been assigned to write an essay, so more analysis will be further coming as I begin to prepare to write. (Hence, that is why I have waited so long to post. But it is worth the wait.)  

Allison 

The Cask of Amontillado #2

Here's my Level III Q&A for The Cask of Amontillado.  Think about it... =]

Level III Question: Is revenge the same thing as justice?
I don’t believe that revenge is the same thing as justice.  Revenge is based off of personal feelings and how serious the offended person takes the offense to be.  The offended is retaliating to a personal offense to “balance” the injuries he received.  Justice is difficult to define.  In the context of The Cask of Amontillado, I will define justice as being a rational punishment to the guilty accused resulting from a lawful inspection and uncovering of the truth.  Using this definition, Montresor is not delivering the justice he claims to be giving.  He does not give us a clue about “the thousand injuries of Fortunato [he] had borne” besides implying that they are awful.  What specific injuries are these and why is Montresor able to dismiss them all but not ignore a simple insult?  Personally, I think Montresor is just doling out a sick punishment to Fortunato without any proof.

--Maria >.<

The Cask of Amontillado Q&A!

This is the final piece of Gothic literature, and I have to say, The Cask of Amontillado is amazing. There's a lot of depth for a story so short.


Here's a Level II question to think about, and my answer with it.


Level II Question: What does Fortunato’s outfit symbolize?
Fortunato dresses up in motley for the carnival.  This is significant to the story because motley is also what a court jester or fool wears.  Poe employs sick irony in this story; he has Fortunato play the court fool, yet in the end, Fortunato is tragically fooled by Montresor.

It's really short, I know, but I'll add some more later.

<3 Maria >.<

Something totally unrelated to literature whatsoever

Hey guys! I really wanted to make a post about an annoying, recurring issue.  Is anyone else having massive problems with the spacing on Blogger? I'll be editing one of my posts, and I'll find that even if I hit "enter" multiple times, I can't make spaces between paragraphs/lines.  Please leave a comment if you've found a solution or encountered the same problem. Thanks! :-)

Maria Xie, your Ultimate Decepticon >.<

The Black Cat Q&A Cont'd...Again

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the last Q&A.

What are some similarities between all the Gothic Literature stories we've read so far? Again, be specific and use details in your response.
All of the Gothic stories that we’ve read employ classic Gothic literary devices.  For example, the antagonist ultimately triumphs over the protagonist, the protagonist either voluntarily or involuntarily isolates himself, and the protagonist unknowingly represses his emotions.  The two stories that are most similar to me are The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat.  Both stories are written by Edgar Allen Poe and also in the same year.  Both feature narrators who are extremely and slightly insane, respectively.  Both murder people close to them.  The narrator of TTH smothers a feeble old man with a vulture’s eye, and the narrator of TBC drives an axe into his wife’s brain.  Both narrators display a show of arrogance that leads them to conviction.  In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator is confident enough to the point where he decides to hold a conversation with the police officers in the room under which the old man’s corpse is buried.  In The Black Cat, the narrator expounds to the police how finely made the walls of his cellar are and evens knocks with his cane on the planks behind which his wife’s dead body rests.  Another one of Poe’s arrogant narrators is Prince Prospero of The Masque of the Red Death.  Prospero’s pompous attitude drives him to mock the Red Death; he holds a masquerade ball when he fully knows that the Red Death’s most defining symptom is the facial skin turning blood red.

I have more to say, but for now, here is this.

Maria Xie, your Ultimate Decepticon >.<

The Black Cat Q&A Cont'd

Here's the second question for The Black Cat!

What Gothic Literature that we've read so far is your favorite, explain why? (The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Minister's Black Veil, or The Black Cat)
My favorite classic Gothic literature piece is The Black Cat.  It was one of the more difficult stories, but to me, it is the most interesting.  Edgar Allen Poe is a clever writer; his ability to use all devices of classic Gothic literature is just brilliant, and his talent is fully displayed in The Black Cat.  Poe doesn’t make it obvious who the protagonist or the antagonist is, and by doing so, he forces his readers to fully analyze and understand the story.  Likewise, he doesn’t make it clear what emotions the narrator protagonist of The Black Cat; however, he hides them in plain sight in one line: “…these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred…a certain sense of shame.”  Poe is able to make his readers feel the darkness and the horror of the story by his choice and use of words and description of the setting and characters.  The Black Cat also flows very smoothly – to me, it’s like reading a movie instead of watching one.

Maria Xie, your Ultimate Decepticon >.<

The Black Cat Q&A

We've just finished with our analysis of The Black Cat, and I'm not done with the rest of the questions, but here's what I've got so far. =]

Discuss who could be the protagonist and antagonist in The Black Cat; explain your logic and reasoning for why? Please remember to use details and specifics from the story to support your response.
The protagonist is the narrator of the story.  Following the “rules” of classic Gothic literature, the narrator loses in the end; he is convicted by the police and about to be hanged.  He isolates himself, voluntarily by his formerly gentle personality and his extreme love for animals, and involuntarily by his alcoholism. His repressed emotions are represented by the second black cat, which is the antagonist.  The harbored emotions of the narrator are “disgust and annoyance…the bitterness of hatred…a certain sense of shame,” (page 67).  These feelings are only evoked in him when he sees the second cat because of its obvious and overly affectionate nature towards the narrator; the cat is like a mirror reflecting all of his repressed emotions of shame, disgust, and annoyance for himself.

-Maria Xie, your Ultimate Decepticon >.<

A Darker Side: A Supplement to Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil"

Here is the supplement for this week:

      In many aspects, this illustration resembles Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”. What stands out at a first glance of the image is the figure standing in the center. This figure is a representation of the minister, which is a completely black and dark figure. On this figure, is a veil covering the face, which Mr. Hooper and the figure use the veil to isolate himself from society. Behind the larger figure, are the representations of the townspeople. If one looks closely enough, the facial expressions of the townspeople depict the characteristics of the “minister” figure. The figures in the image appear to be scornful of the larger figure, such as one of the figures has her back turned away while her head is looking over towards the figure in disgust. This image depicts how in the story Mr. Hooper knows that he is not accepted in society. In the story, Mr. Hooper tells society is changing, and which creates him to voluntarily isolate himself. Overall, this image is in two shades: black and white. These two shades relate to the society portrayed in the story, where being accepted and strong morals are vital. However, the dark figure and Mr. Hooper are rejected and alienated secretly as a bizarre and unethical human living in a seventeenth century society.      

Allison, an ulitimatedecepticon

First Wonders and First Thoughts: A Minister's Black Veil.

So this week, the ultimatedecepticons were supposed to create two level two questions regarding Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil". I must say that this was quite a challenge in creating two level two questions, as there is a lot of text to interpret. Here's the first round of these interpretations, but first here are the two questions:

1.)  Who or what is the villain?
2.)  Why does Mr. Hooper wear the veil?
And therefore we have...... 
1. In this text, there are multiple possibilities for the villains. It could be evils of sin, the black veil, or even Mr. Hooper himself. Throughout one’s interpretation, a strong villain of the literary work to be secret sin. The text displays the secret sin as being personified by the black veil. This is how one could easily assume that the villain is the black veil. However, the black veil displays a deeper meaning, which is the power of sin within each man. Mr. Hooper quotes, “‘If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough,’ he merely replied ‘and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?’” (Hawthorne  11). The quote depicts that a man can hid his face in sorrow, but all men desire to hide his sins from the world. In Gothic Literature, the villain prevails over all: there are no exceptions to this rule whatsoever. If sin is the villain, then it matches how the sin of minister is portrayed to allow the townspeople realize that their sins are no different from the sins of the minister.  
2.Why does Mr. Hooper wear the veil, one may say? Yet again, there are multiple reasons why Mr. Hooper chooses to wear the veil. A townsman recalls in the text, “‘ But the strangest part of the affair is the effect of this vagary, even on a sober-minded man like myself. The black veil, though it covers only our pastor’s face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot’” (Hawthorne 8).  The townsmen immediately see the difference of Mr. Hooper’s tone and actions as he covers his face with the black veil. They also note how the veil has morphed their minister as someone greater and a different being. Mr. Hooper puts on the veil so he can isolate himself from society. While isolating himself from society, Mr. Hooper can hide his own sins underneath the veil. As a minister, Mr. Hooper symbolizes that he is like every other man, having his veil as a guard to hide his sins from society’s judgment. In addition, the veil is portrayed as a transparent piece of cloth, where the figure behind it can see everything through it. On the contrary, everything on the outside world is unable to see through the transparency, like Mr. Hooper’s veil, which allows the sinner to be in a secluded environment.   
Okay, well upon reflecting the Minster's Black Veil, there is something else that could be a possibility to why Mr. Hooper wears the veil. For one thing, the color of the veil is black. Even the color of the veil must represent a deeper meaning. In general the color black is associated with evil and dark things and situations. In this context, the black veil separates Mr. Hooper from society. The black veil hides the light of society, which is the good in life. Therefore, the veil hides the good, and displays only the evil. Mr. Hooper is the one who is behind the veil, so he is the one behind the veil's evilness, thus rejecting the good light and aspects of society. 


That's it for now, and I will work more on the whole spacing on the text thing....(sorry) 
Yours truly, 
Your ultimatedecepticon, A, Allison    

The Minister's Black Veil #2

Here are a couple more Level II questions to think about for The Minister's Black Veil:

What does the veil represent?

Why don't the townspeople accept Mr. Hooper's veil?

~~Maria, your Ultimate Decepticon >.<

The Minister's Black Veil

Our latest Gothic literature piece that we've finished is The Minister's Black Veil.  I've included a couple Level II questions to ponder over and my answers as well.  Hope you enjoy! :-)

Who or what is the villain?
The villain in this story is secret sin, represented by Mr. Hooper’s black veil.  Humans naturally want to hide their secret sins and conceal it from the world, including themselves.  Secret sin, then, is what the townspeople – the protagonists – are repressing.  Why is the black veil not the villain?  The veil is nothing more than a piece of crepe; the villain is what it represents, and how the characters in the story interpret it to be.  It’s like a transparency into others’ souls, which is ironic, because it provides such a definite, physical boundary between Mr. Hooper and the townspeople.

Why does Mr. Hooper wear the veil?
There are multiple possible reasons for why Mr. Hooper wears the veil.  Recall that in the beginning of the story, there is a funeral for a dead girl going on.  This is the first day that Mr. Hooper begins wearing his black veil, so I believe that there is a possibility he had an affair with the dead girl.  There is proof that my belief is true, as two other townspeople say that they, “had a fancy that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand,” (page 9).  There is more evidence: On page 11, he confesses to his fiancée Elizabeth that he cannot tell her the reason of the black veil because of a vow to which he is bound.  Another reason why Mr. Hooper wears a black veil is to try to make the townspeople aware of their black veils, their own secret, forbidden sins.

Maria Xie, your Ultimate Decepticon >.<