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Alcoholism can turn people inward and violent.
The narrator’s addiction to alcohol lowers his inhibitions, causing him to become violent and perverse. He describes alcohol as making him “more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others.” These personality traits—selfishness, irritability, and moodiness—indicate that he is unable to handle his own negative emotions and instead lashes out at the perceived cause of his hurt. While we do not know the particulars of his abuse in most cases, his violence toward Pluto illustrates the depth of his selfish mindset. He grabs Pluto roughly because he imagines Pluto avoiding him, which causes Pluto to bite him. As he previously thought of Pluto as his most loyal companion, Pluto’s self-defense hurts his feelings. The narrator subsequently turns his hurt feelings into anger, cutting out Pluto’s eye. Although the narrator admits feeling “grieved” by Pluto’s subsequent rejection of him, which implies remorse, he then becomes angrier and “perverse.” The narrator, upset by the cat who once favored him avoiding him entirely, and unable to sit with the guilt he feels for causing the situation, responds by killing Pluto, whom he perceives as the source of his guilt.
The narrator’s selfish violence takes over his entire household. Once the narrator describes his descent into alcoholism, he rarely mentions his wife or other pets except as objects of his abuse. The way these characters nearly drop out of the story suggests that the narrator barely thinks of them, highlighting that his mind has no room for anything other than his own feelings. For example, he notices how his wife is delighted by the second black cat precisely because his wife’s delight upsets him. He ultimately kills his wife for not allowing him to kill the black cat as he wished to do in the moment and for getting in the way. Alcoholism effectively makes the narrator unable to handle rejection of any sort, nor is he able to accept the consequences of his behavior or actions. When challenged, he responds with extreme violence.
The line between reality and the supernatural is thin.
The events of “The Black Cat” can easily be read as either real or supernatural, complicated by the narrator’s impaired perception of reality. The narrator stating that he himself thinks his story is unbelievable suggests the narrator is also unsure if he’s facing the vengeance of a supernatural cat or whether he’s losing his handle on reality. We can easily reason that Pluto is likely not the only large black cat in the neighborhood, and it’s entirely possible the narrator hallucinates the change in the second black cat’s fur. Nevertheless, these explanations may also feel convenient or coincidental. A helpful lens to use when considering this tension is the literary critic Tzvetan Todorov’s theories around the poetics of the fantastic in reading horror. Todorov defined the fantastic as seemingly supernatural moments in literature that otherwise appear to take place in the real world, where both the reader and character hover at the point of nearly believing something magical has occurred.
Poe’s use of the fantastic pushes the narrator deeper into his worst impulses by creating anxiety. For example, when the narrator sees the bas relief of the cat that appears directly after the house fire, he’s terrified, but able to calm himself with a rational explanation. Satisfied enough that the bas relief was not supernatural, the narrator begins to feel remorseful and even looks for another cat. He clearly feels guilt for Pluto’s murder at this point in the story, but does not lash out, as he later does. However, the second black cat’s uncanny similarities to Pluto and the possible gallows image on his chest once again plunge the narrator into the realm of the fantastic. His inability to completely allay his fears makes him furious to the point where he treats the cat’s kindness toward him as a phantasmic attack designed to make him feel guilty. Unable to tolerate the ambiguity, the narrator attempts to kill the cat.
Animals are more loyal and constant than humans.
At the beginning of the story, the narrator explains that he loves animals because they are more steadfastly loyal than humans. Both Pluto and the second black cat exemplify this fidelity. The narrator appears to dote on Pluto at the beginning because Pluto loves the narrator so much that he follows him everywhere, even outside the house. Although the narrator has clearly been acting violent and erratic for some time, Pluto does not fully avoid the narrator until the narrator cuts out one of his eyes. The second black cat, if we believe that cat to be separate from Pluto, appears even more loyal. He refuses to stop following the narrator around even as the narrator actively tries to push him away. In a reading where the second black cat is Pluto incarnate, his returning from the grave to his abusive owner and showing only love and affection is an even more remarkable show of unconditional love.
Although the narrator’s jab at the beginning of the story about the inconstancy of human friendship judges those around him, the narrator himself is actually the perfect illustration of the criticism. He speaks fondly of his wife at the beginning, and even describes her as uncomplaining. However, aside from these moments in the story, his wife only appears as the target of the narrator’s physical and verbal abuse. He neglects and abuses the animals he claims to have adored. He claims to have loved Pluto best, and yet lashes out at him more violently than his other pets, first maiming him and then murdering him. He claims to want to treat the second black cat kindly, but repays this cat’s regard with anger and violence, ultimately trying to murder him as well. The narrator represents the worst of humanity.
