It has been exactly ten (10) days since my last short story book review and boy it feels like forever. For my love of the Hive book club community, I promised myself that I would write a short story review at least twice every week, and a book review at least once every week, but we make plans and life has other plans for us, :). There are tons of free books and short stories. You might wonder, why short stories? Well, for one thing, they are shot, xd. I actually read over five books at a time. I just love reading short stories because there is less suspense and the writers are always straight to the point, so, here we are.
If you don't know who Allan Poe is then, it's either you don't read books or you have been living under a rock. Allan was an academic. A writer, poet, etc. He is even attributed to being the pioneer of short storytelling by some. Now, you probably understand why I read this book, and why I am even considering writing about it, it was very enjoyable. Well, let's get to the order of the day then shall we?
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- Author - Edgar Allan Poe
- Title - The Black Cat
- Originally Published - 1842
- Genre - Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Short Story.
PLOT
The story started off with the unnamed narrator, who is the protagonist of the story, living an average life. He has a wife, a lover of pets and all good things of life, all-around nice guy. So it turns out that all that changed, partly due to alcoholism. He suddenly becomes cruel and started maltreating the various pet animals in the home. The cat was his favourite, but due to an inadvertent mishap on the part of the cat, the narrator attacked the poor creature and took one of its eyes. As you might have figured, their relationship went sore, maybe a bit too sore. You should find out what happens.
SETTING
I personally feel the setting dwells mainly in the head of the narrator, a sort of psychological setting. There is of course the homes the narrator lived with his wife and pets, and also the cellar where the real drama unfolded.
CHARACTERS
Pluto the cat which was the Narrators favourite pet and playmate. The Narrator who, in my opinion, is the villain. The Narrator's wife who we didn't know much of, except through the narrator himself. The policemen who were investigating the death of the Narrators wife in the cellar and the second cat who played the ultimate role, a rather tragic one.
PURPOSE
There is a lot of purpose to think to this. It is a work packed with lessons. I will rather break it down into the various themes I perceived from the work. There are a lot of themes, a few I can think of are; There is the theme of Death and Murder which takes centre stage at the end of the story. Illusion and reality is something that, not only the character battles, but we as readers try to make meaning of various minor details. In the end, it's left to our imagination.
MY REVIEW
Yes, absolutely yes. Should you read this? Absolutely fucking yes, xd. Forgive my language, but this is a pure masterpiece and I can't contain my excitement. Profound, insightful, well-stated words, overall brilliance, this is short story writing at its best. No matter how highly I speak of it, think we are all familiar with Edgar Allan Poe and his deep philosophical Ideas. Okay, so you don't think these are just mere words with nothing concrete to convince you to read this book, would also break down my review into two parts.
Quotes
Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart—one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man.
These words are deep, with an underlining human question that one may ponder if you truly think about them, biblically or morally. The natural inclination to do evil is only but natural as that which draws you to do good.
"There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man."
You find loyalty where you don't expect. You find things where you never thought to look.
Symbology
A black cat is believed to symbolize witchcraft and evil. The narrator also harbours an inherent fear of the innocent creature.
Wife is the rational one. The one without superstitious beliefs. The one well disposed of with a compassionate heart. Women in the real sense an emotional but yet highly reasonable being.
Thank you for reading. I try not to give spoilers, :). Everything said herein are actually my own opinion. If there is anything I might have missed of misinterpreted or quoted wrongly even, please point me towards it in the comment down below. Also, you could drop me your mail, so I could email it to you. It's 18 pages or there about, it's free. You probably are as lazy as me, and would prefer an audio version, well, I have got ya. listen here Till next time.
