"The Black Cat"

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 …

…problems. The alcoholism leads to other problems in his life, such as his horrible fits of rage, and his utter disliking of his once prized pets. In his mentally deranged state, the narrator cannot be trusted to deliver the true events of the story. Therefore the reader must take it upon himself to interpret the events of the story and come up with his own conclusion as to what really happened, and why they happened.