Part one of term paper
When Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Black Cat” in 1843, the word “paranoia” was not in existence. The mental illness of paranoia was not given its name until the twentieth century. What the narrator is suffering from would be called paranoia today. The definition of paranoia is psychosis marked by delusions and irrational decisions. Th ...

Part two of term paper
... being with animals is “one of [his] principal sources of pleasure” (346). The narrator’s favorite pet is his large entirely black cat named Pluto. The narrator’s wife “made frequent allusion[s] to the ancient popular notion” that black cats were associated with bad luck, evil, witches, and the devil. Poe’s protagonist does not accept this superstition. People still associate black cats with bad luck, evil, witches, and the devil, so this foreshadows that something bad will happe ...