Throughout the opening paragraph of 'The Black Cat,' the reader is introduced to a narrator who, because of his grotesque actions, has become mentally deranged and very untrustworthy, ' . . . my very senses reject their own evidence.' The narration of this story is in the first person, which would lead you to believe the narrator could be trusted to relate to you the true events of the story, but this is false. The narrator in this story is unreliable due to his horrid state of mind and body. The narrator cannot be relied upon to show the reader the true events of the story, these events have to be interpreted and the reader must come to his own conclusion as to what really happened.
The reader is shown in the opening paragraph that he should not trust the narrator to deliver the true events of the story.
Illustration for "The Black Cat" by Aubrey Beardsl...
Microsoft Narrator
The "Japanese" narrator of My Japan.The narrator admits throughout the story that his bad habits, namely alcoholism, lead to his irrational state of mind. His alcoholism was the root of his downfall. While intoxicated, the narrator mutilated his favourite pet, Pluto, causing the cat to become terrified of his master. The alienation of his cat gave the narrator even more cause to become mentally unstable.
The hanging of his cat shows how the narrator has become obsessed with doing evil things for the sake of their evilness. This evilness is linked to his alcoholism. The narrator was most-likely in a drunken state when he hung his cat, which only infuriated his temper. This separation of friends had a huge effect on the narrator's deadly temper. His temper is such that anything that slightly annoyed him caused him to go into fits of rage.
The fits of rage which occupy the narrator for much...