Analyzing Unreliable Narrator in The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

Introduction

Do you always believe everything a narrator tells in a story? If you always do, you might want to think twice before fully believing a narrator because there are unreliable narrators. Discussing about unreliable narrator is interesting as it is the same with talking about untrustworthy person in real life. It is also important because it helps you think critically when you receive information.

One of unreliable narrators is shown in the old literary work titled The Black Cat written by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was an American writer in the 19th century. Poe’s works include short stories, poems, and journals. He was also known as a literary critic. And Poe’s work that is going to be discussed here is The Black Cat, a horror and thriller short story published on August 19th 1843. The Black Cat is the story of an unnamed narrator who will die tomorrow because he is sentenced to death and he tells the readers about how his life fell apart. The narrator is someone who turns insane because of alcohol to the point that he tortures and kills his cat and his wife.

By using narratology theory, the issues that will be discussed in this essay are why the narrator in The Black Cat is considered an unreliable narrator, what psychological issues that the narrator is facing that will be analyzed using psychoanalysis theory, and how the narrator convinces the readers to believe his story,

Theoretical Background

The literary theory that mostly will be used in this essay is narratology. Barry (2017) explains narratology as “the study of narrative structures.” This theory can help to analyze how narrative makes meaning, the basic mechanisms and procedures. This essay will also use a bit of psychoanalytic criticism: “a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature.” Barry (2017) as it is relevant to what we are going to discuss.

Before discussing the issues about unreliable narrator, it is best to look up the definition of narrator and unreliable narrator. According to Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.)., “narrator is a character who tells what is happening in a book or film.” Since we are going to analyze a short story in this essay, the narrator tells what is happening in a book. We know that there are several types of narrators, and one of them is unreliable narrator. As stated in MasterClass (2020), unreliable narrator refers to an untrustworthy storyteller (who, in my opinion, has issues within themselves) and it usually uses a first-person point of view. The statement is in accordance with the narrator in The Black Cat that uses a first-person point of view which means the story is told from the narrator’s perspective and the narrator is the character in the story as well. Based on what I understand, according to Gerard Genette, a narratologist, it is also called internal focalization which Barry (2017) writes in his book titled Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory as the focus in internal focalization is on what the character think and feel.

To conclude, unreliable narrator is a person in a story who tells about what is happening in the story from their perspective but the validity of their story is questioned due to the issues that the narrator has.

Discussion

Reasons for which the narrator in The Black Cat is considered an unreliable narrator

The narrator’s sudden behavior change is one of the reasons why he is considered as an unreliable narrator. When he was young, he “…was noted for the docility and humanity…” (103), he continues “my tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets.” (103). However, after he married and addicted to alcohol, his behavior changed completely.

The narrator in The Black Cat short story is an alcoholic, as he confessed “through the instrumentality of the fiend Intemperance…” (104). And, in contrast to his behavior when he was young, it changes his behavior to be “…more moody, more irritable, more regardless feelings of others.” (104). Even to his wife, he began “…to use intemperate language…” (104) and “…offered her personal violence.” (104). He also started “…maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog…” (105) except for his cat, Pluto. However, his behavior towards Pluto changes when “One night, returning home intoxicated…” he “…deliberately cut on of its eye…” (105) using “a penknife” (105) cruelly as if “a fury of a demon instantly possessed…” (105) the narrator.

Because of his addiction to alcohol, he becomes unable to control himself from committing violence and unable to understand his thoughts and actions as the time goes by. He is “guilty” (105), he does “regret” (107) over his violent actions and knows that he “…was committing a sin…” (106) but he keeps repeating his actions such as “hung” (106) his cat “… to the limb of a tree…” (106). It is also a sign that the narrator is inconsistent.

There are four types of unreliable narrator: the picaro, the madman, the naif, and the liar. MasterClass (2020) explains that the picaro is the type of unreliable narrator who exaggerate stories, the madman type is the one who has psychological issues, the naif is the unreliable narrator who is inexperience or young so the credibility is questionable, and the liar is the one who make up stories to make themselves a good image. From the explanation, it is clear that the narrator of The Black Cat is the madman type because he has mental issues.

Psychological issues that the narrator is facing

Quoting from a research by Shivani, et al. (2002), the effects of alcoholism “include mental disorders such as mood problems, irritability, anxiety, and psychotic.” These symptoms can be found in the narrator of The Black Cat who is addicted to alcohol. When the narrator began to drink alcohol, he stated “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable…” (104). He also has an anxiety, he said that “For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat.” (107), he experienced “dread” (109) and “…an utterable fear.” (110). The psychotic signs show since the beginning when the narrator stated that he tortured his pets. Griffiths (2016) in an article on Psychology Today writes that Dr. Phillip Kavanagh and his colleagues in their studies “found that the psychopathy trait is related to intentionally hurting or torturing animals.” So, it is not impossible for the sufferer to commit more crimes. After repeatedly torturing his pets, because he could not control his anger, the narrator killed his wife, he “buried the axe in her brain…” (111) without thinking.

If we analyze the narrator’s behavior using Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality which Freud proposed that personality was made up of three elements; the id, ego, and superego, the narrator’s id is the strongest between the three elements. Cherry (2020) in an article states that according to Freud, “the id is driven by the pleasure principle that seeks immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and urges.” She continues “the pleasure principle strives to fulfill our most basic and primitive urges, including hunger, thirst, anger, and sex.” In this case, the basic and primitive urge the narrator’s id wants to fulfill is anger which is also triggered by alcohol. The narrator always follows the demands of the pleasure principle to torture and kill his pets and wife to avoid anxiety or tension. After killing them, he could “…soundly and tranquilly slept.” (112) and “…breathed as a freeman.” (112).

After reading the explanation above, we can conclude that the narrator is mentally sick because of his alcoholism. He undergoes several psychological issues; mood disorder, anxiety, and severe anger that leads to his psychotic behavior. Refer to Freud’s theory, the narrator is considered an unhealthy person because his id is the strongest between his ego and superego.

How the narrator convinces the readers to believe his story

The narrator in The Black Cat uses diegetic or telling narrative mode instead of mimetic or showing. Genette (1983) explains that diegetic means ‘telling’ or ‘relating, so, the narrative is given in a more summarizing way. It means the narrator just says what happens without showing the event as it happens. The narrator summarizes the sequence of events based on what he sees, feels, and thinks. In my opinion, the speech in The Black Cat is in ‘reported’ form, and according to Genette (1983), by ‘reporting’, we are not given the actual spoken words. Therefore, the truth is questionable, and the way the narrative is focalized (from first-person point of view) could take the readers’ trust and the readers could take the narrator’s side even though he is the wicked one because the way speech is presented could change our interpretation.

He convinces the readers to believe him by saying that he “…was noted for the docility and humanity…” (103), he had “…tenderness of heart…” (103), and he was “…especially fond of animals…” (103) in the beginning of the story. This could immediately grab the readers’ trust because the readers would know that the narrator is actually a good person. But again, we do not know whether he is telling the truth or no.

Even after doing series of violence acts towards his cat, the narrator still felt guilty and regret over his actions. After killing Pluto, his first cat, he adopted another cat, took care of it, and felt fond of it. However, he then “…found a dislike to it…” (108) and confessed “…its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed.” (108). Since then, he started to be even more brutal than before; attempted to kill his cat, but instead his wife was killed. He even buried his dead wife in the wall, “I determined to wall it up in the cellar…” (111) He said.

In conclusion, the narrator convinces the readers by telling the narration from his perspective, from first-person point of view. By telling a story that way, readers usually will feel connected or related with the narrator and of course it also makes them believe the narrator. Moreover, the narrator confessed that he committed a sin and one time he regretted even though he repeated his brutal actions.

Conclusion

After reading the discussion above, we can conclude that the narrator in The Black Cat is considered an unreliable narrator because he is an alcoholic whose behavior can change all of a sudden. That what makes him inconsistent. He is also unable to control himself from committing violence and understand his thoughts and actions. In addition, the narrator belongs to the madman type of unreliable narrator because he has psychological issues.

Due to his alcoholism, the narrator has several mental disorders. And because of that, the narrator’s id becomes the strongest one between his ego and superego which makes him follows his pleasure principle which is expressing his anger through violence to avoid anxiety or tension.

The narrator convinces his readers by telling them that he was a good person who was fond of animals, and although he committed violence, he still admitted his wrongdoings. The narrative is told using diegetic narrative more and from first-person point of view which builds trust and connection between the readers and the narrator.

Analyzing unreliable narrator or doubting a narrator is important because it is similar with talking to someone in real life. Prevent yourself from believing something very easily as it will bring bad effects sometimes such as a false information. The lesson learnt from this discussion is to think critically after receiving an information.

My suggestion is to be more aware of the characters in prose, because a character is more than what they seem. We might have a different interpretation with the author and it is totally fine because the most important thing is to analyze more deeply about the characters. Lastly, most of Edgar Allan Poe’s works are mostly grotesque. For those who are into horror and thriller story, Poe’s works are highly recommended.

References

Barry, P. (2017). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. (4th ed.). Manchester University Press.

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Narrator. In dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved July 17, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/narrator

Cherry, K. (2020, November 20). Freud’s id, ego, and superego. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-id-ego-and-superego-2795951

Cherry, K. (2020, May 8). How Freud’s pleasure principle works. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-pleasure-principle-2795472

Cherry, K. (2021, April 27). The work and theories of Sigmund Freud. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/sigmund-freud-his-life-work-and-theories-2795860#freud-and-psychoanalysis

Griffiths, M. D. (2016, November 23). The psychology of animal torture. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201611/the-psychology-animal-torture

MasterClass. (2020, November 8). What is an unreliable narrator? 4 ways to create an unreliable narrator in writing. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-an-unreliable-narrator-4-ways-to-create-an-unreliable-narrator-in-writing#quiz-0

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2002). Alcoholism and psychiatric disorders. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh26-2/90-98.htm