black cat DQs

1. Discuss the significance of the following quote: “There is something 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 man.”Well, to be selfish is not caring and kind of being self-centered. It means if you shall sacrifice for anything and you attempt to be the best person you can be, your really not that selfish. I believe it's trying to say if your willing to test a relationship that hasn't really worked out in the past your at least trying and your not selfish.
2. What is the significance of the cat’s name, Pluto? Pluto, was a very important role in this story of the Black Cat. In a way he was a bad significance because around the time he entered into the guys house is the time he started maltreating the other animals. Although, Pluto is the cat that kind of made the guy happy because he had fun with him and they were like playmates. I personally think everything went down hill when he started mistreating the other animals and was mistreating Pluto.
3. Why did the narrator initially restrain himself from maltreating the cat while maltreating other animals? I think he restrained himself from hurting Pluto at first because they have been friends for summers. Pluto also was growing older and i think he was trying to take it easy on that cat and some of the other animals. It says in the story he didn't have a scruple of mistreating rabbits, the monkey, or the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. So i believe he was just trying to not be so mean to the pets to kind of prove a point to all of them.
4. Why does he eventually mistreat the cat? Well, Pluto gets more peevish and old and starts realizing the ill-tempered man. I personally think Pluto kind of got sick of all the anger of the man and tried to prove a point by biting him. All this did was make the man more evil and turn into the demon which caused the abuse of the cat i believe.
5. Describe the narrator’s feelings after abusing the cat. Why is that significant? After he slept of the fumes on the nights debauch is the time i believed he realized what he had done. He was experiencing horror and remorse which i think caused him to feel bad about the situation. This is very significant though because out of all his guilt he was hurting himself by drowning him self with wine and seeing the cat walk around the house without an eye.
6. How does the narrator define “perverseness”? Do you agree with his definition? Do you agree that it is human nature? Well perverseness does mean ill-will and stubborn in a way i believe he was and i do agree with the narrator. I mean in the story the guy is hurting animals and not having a care in the world. What makes it worse is Pluto biting him and putting the demon in him. The narrator taks about overthrowing the spirit of perverseness so i believe he used it well in the story to show that he needs to turn his bad ways around.
7. Discuss the significance of the following quote: “[I] hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offense; because I knew that in doing so I was committing a sin.” I believe the man wanted to turn his life around to the point of getting rid of the cat because it was causing him to make sins. He felt so much remorse he just wanted things to be better and even though the cat loved him, it did no good. The only things happening were bad things and he wanted it all to end by killing Pluto.