(Book Review) "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe

1. Introduction 

'The Black Cat' is a short story published in 1843 by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. From the first-person point of view, "I" takes a look back on his life the day before the execution.

2. Summary 

From my infancy, I had been gentle and especially fond of animals. I had a remarkably large and beautiful cat, entirely black, called Pluto. He attended me wherever I went about the house.

But from one day onwards, it was all mixed up. Alcohol was the cause of the trouble. As I drank, I turned violent.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence.

I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he gave a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer.

I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the neck, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!
 
The next day, I was stunned to see what I had done. Pluto, who had lost one eye, was avoiding me in extreme terror. As I looked at it, the feeling of guilt soon gave place to irritation.

Finally, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to a tree in the garden.

On the night of the day, a fire broke out in my house. My wife, a servant, and I made our escape from the flame.

The next day, I approached the unburned surface of a wall and saw the figure of a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck.

Months later, I was in search of another pet to replace the vacancy of Pluto. I then saw a cat closely resembling Pluto in a pub.

The cat followed me home. It domesticated itself at once and became a great favorite immediately with my wife.

I found later that it, like Pluto, also had been deprived of one of its eyes. It was overlapped with one eye of Pluto, and I disgusted it.

The worst incident occurred. One day my wife accompanied me into the cellar of the house. The cat entered under my feet and nearly threw me headlong.

The following is my testimony about what happened:
 
"It exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe…in my wrath....I aimed a blow at the animal. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain."

I deposited my wife's body between the outer and inner walls of the basement. After I'd done all, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. 

I looked for the cat, but it did not make its appearance anywhere.

Afterwards, a party of the police came to investigate my wife's disappearance. When the police couldn't find anything suspicious in my house, I got excited, being satisfied with my perfect crime. 

I rapped heavily, with my cane upon that very portion of the brick-work where I hid the corpse of the wife.

Then a bizarre cry echoed through the wall into the cellar. When the police broke down the wall, the body of his wife turned up. And a live cat was sitting on top of it.

The strange noise was none other than from the beast. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

3. Lessons 

It's a horrifying story. How come the protagonist with a gentle character turned into such a terrible figure?

Alcohol was the primary cause, but not the main. The writer does not specify why, but readers can't get it out of their minds.

The Bible answers through Ephesians 6:12.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (NIV)

That's right. We can say that evil spirits are involved in the destruction of the protagonist of "The Black Cat."

We see the anger issue here in this novel. In the Bible, the first person with anger disorder was Cain.

Cain brought his offering to God along with his brother Abel, but the Lord accepted only Abel's. (Genesis chapter 4) So Cain was furious, and his face was downcast.
 
God said to the angry Cain, "If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door....you must rule over it." Nonetheless, Cain killed his brother Abel in the field.

There must be an evil spirit behind Cain's uncontrolled anger having ended up murdering.

Apostle Paul makes a request, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior."

But we live in a more and more furious and brutal society.
 
Even Christians are not free from it. If a wicked spirit pours oil on my burning rage, it will make an explosion without control.

Remember one thing. Dirty things floating on the water sink down only when the water is calm.

When we get caught up in rage, let's stop everything immediately, and look to God silently.

David, in Psalm 62:1, confesses, "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation." (ESV)

I pray that God's salvation, which recovered David's soul, will come down upon all those who are struggling with anger control.