"The Black Cat" research paper outline
Castille 2
Source note
Amper, Susan “Untold story: The lying narrator in `The Black Cat'.”
Studies in Short Fiction. Fall92, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p475. 11p.
On the eve of his execution for the murder of his wife, a condemned man tells a far-fetched tale about how the murder occurred. In it he expresses little remorse, denies responsibility, and blames the murder on an extraordinary sequence of events beyond his control.
I. Evidence of the Narrator lying about his wife being dead for no more than 3 days.
A. The narrator wants us to believe his wife died 3 days before her body was found but we can tell this was not true because he tells how he hid the body over a time period.
B. Evidence shows that the corpse that had been decaying was "already greatly decayed and clotted with gore"
II. The narrator killed his wife at the same time as he killed Pluto
A. While taking Plutos dead body outside to be hung on a tree the narrator was said to show a great amount of emotion as though someone he had a great amount of love for was killed instead. (Paragraph
B. The narrator stated that he committed a “deadly sin” as if he could’ve murdered his wife as well while also killing his cat.
III. The narrator is at war with himself because he is trying to hide this horrible crime
A. In his first paragraph of his story he tries to warn the readers that he is not telling the truth and he constantly drops hints of the truth throughout the story.
B.