Similarities Between The Black Cat And To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a coming of age novel, which focuses on the darker side of humanity. The novel is told from the perspective of young Scout Finch, who lives in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. As Scout’s father takes on the job of representing a wrongly accused black man she and her brother Jem are thrust into the middle of a fight between her family and the rest of the town. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” is told from the point of view of an unreliable narrator who recalls the crimes he has committed and the events that led to them in an attempt to “unburden” his soul. Both Lee and Poe use mood shifts to show the theme of coexistence of good and evil in their works.

At the start of To Kill A Mockingbird

the readers are introduced to Scout and Jem Finch and their friends and family.

The plot revolves around the siblings’ daily lives, which involve playing with the neighborhood boy Dill, and driving their cook, Calpurnia, insane. The biggest worry in Scout and Jem’s lives is their obsession with their recluse neighbor Boo Radley, due to the rumors that have been spread about him. “People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work,” (Lee 10). At this point the mood that Lee has established is light- hearted and carefree. As the novel progresses, however, Scout and Jem’s lives become more complicated, as Atticus is assigned the case of Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white woman. While the townspeople of Maycomb, Alabama do not expect Atticus to actually defend Tom due to his race, Atticus realizes that the man is in fact innocent and he plans to defend him to

the best of his ability. ‘“If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it?’ ‘For a number of reasons,’ said Atticus. ‘The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again,’” (Lee 100). At this point in the novel, both Jem and Scout have become exposed to the racism that lives in the heart of their town. The mood has shifted from the light-heartedness that is associated with the beginning of the novel to one of a more serious nature as Tom’s trial fast approaches. Jem and Scout represent innocence and all that is good since they were oblivious to the evilness of human nature. It is through her shift in mood that Harper Lee is able to establish the theme of coexistence of good and evil.
“The Black Cat” starts off as an unnamed narrator begins to retell the story of his life before he dies.

He warns the readers that the events which took place will make him seem crazy, but still claims that he is sane. The narrator starts his story by describing the man that he was for the majority of his life, “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition...This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principle sources of pleasure... I married early and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial like my own,” (Poe 531). This quote shows that the narrator was quite content with his life. He has a wife and his beloved pets, the most prized of which is a black cat named Pluto. Pluto is the narrator's closest friend and treats him as such, however, once he begins drinking things dramatically change. “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others...One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence...I took from my waistcoat pocket a pen-kinfe,opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket,” (Poe 532). The introduction of the narrator's alcoholism causes a striking mood shift. He is no longer the kind caretaker of his beloved pet, alcohol has transformed him into a monster. In this sense both Pluto and the life

that the narrator lead before represent the good, while the introduction of alcohol brings about evilness. It is through this shift of mood that Edgar Allan Poe is able to construct the theme of coexistence of good and evil.
In conclusion, it is through the use of mood shifts in their work that both Harper Lee and Edgar Allan Poe were able to create the theme of coexistence of good and evil. Lee compared the uncorrupt Scout and Jem to the hatred and racist nature of their society. Similar to this is how Poe paired the innocent Pluto against his masters maliciousness. While both story lines are vastly different the general theme remains the same.