How Is Edgar Allan Poe Unreliable

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In the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator who is telling the story is unreliable. As an unreliable narrator, Poe fails to show his true emotions and thoughts towards his actions. It is almost as if he cannot agree on one thought about how he feels when he does something that is cruel and abusive, which might make others question his sanity. As an abusive and intense unreliable narrator, Poe shows multiple signs of insanity. In the beginning of the story, Edgar Poe stated “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. 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. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.” The narrator is telling us how he was always known for his tenderness nature and his love for animals, yet he abused and killed his pet cat, Pluto, who showed nothing but affection towards him, and he killed his wife by “accidentally” stabbing her repeatedly with an axe. Poe’s words in the beginning of the story are completely different then the actions he was carrying out. …show more content…

He explained how alcohol was a disease that had grew upon him. Too much alcohol can lead to depression, which can lead to insanity. When Poe arrived home from the bar, he was very well intoxicated from all of the alcohol he had. Poe then snatched Pluto and cut his eye out. Throughout the short story, the narrator explained all of the affection he was getting from Pluto, but for some reason, the more affection Pluto expressed, the more angrier and hateful Edgar would get. He didn’t like it when animals showed affection toward him because he found it

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