‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Squaw’ are both short stories from the sub-genre of horror fiction. How are evil and the supernatural presented in each of the stories? Compare and contrast the two stories.
English Literature Coursework - Response to Pre-1900 Prose texts
'The Black Cat' and 'The Squaw' are both short stories from the sub-genre of horror fiction. How are evil and the supernatural presented in each of the stories? Compare and contrast the two stories.
Horror stories have common ingredients, including, a ruined gothic castle with monsters such as vampires and werewolves. Horror stories generally play on fear of the unknown. They cause the reader to be afraid of what they are going to see that they don't expect. When horror stories are also short stories, they benefit from this. A larger amount of dramatic events can take place in a short space of time. If the main character of a horror story that wasn't a short story died very near the end, the whole story would be ruined. This means that readers of short horror stories are shocked much more. In the two stories, evil and the supernatural are not presented in the way that they are normally in short stories. They are presented in a way to make the reader think about them, and how they can arise. This is unlike most horror stories, in which the aim of the story is just to shock and scare the reader.
The two stories are entitled 'The Black Cat' and 'The Squaw'. The tiles of stories can tell the reader about them. The Black Cat is a short story about a man who is driven to murder by his cat. The Squaw is also a short story, about a man who kills a kitten, and is then killed by its mother, in an act of revenge. The titles mean that the reader to has impressions of what the stories are about as soon as they start reading them. The title, The Black Cat gives the reader a feeling that the story is going to involve evil or magic, in some way, because black cats are commonly thought of as bad or evil, and as witches in disguise, however, when the reader reads the title, The Squaw, they are given a much less vivid impression. A squaw is an American Indian woman or wife, but most people don't know this. This means that the reader doesn't really know what to expect from the story. I believe The Black Cat to be better titled than The Squaw, because it is more deep and meaningful. It is deliberately intended to make the reader think that the black cat is bad, but it is the cat that turns out to be the victim. This illuminates how the reader will always make the assumption that a black cat will be evil. The cat in The Squaw is said to be like a squaw, and I believe that this is the only reason it is titled like this.
The beginnings of stories are important for giving the reader an impression of what is to come. The beginnings of the two stories do not give particularly much atmosphere of the supernatural. At the beginning of The Squaw, the narrator just accounts about how he and his wife are on their honeymoon, and how they meet Elias Hutcheson. The reader is given no indication that it is a horror story throughout the beginning of the story. Similarly, at the beginning of The Black Cat, the reader does not receive much of an impression of the supernatural. The character just seems to introduce himself. The only clue the reader receives about the supernatural is the way the cat is introduced into the story. At the beginning of The Black Cat, there are a few clues about what will happen later in the story. The narrator accounts about how the events that happens in the story "have terrified-have tortured-have destroyed me" He also states that he is going to be hung, whereas the beginning of The Squaw provides the reader with no clues about what happens later. The beginnings of the stories are quite different. The opening of The Squaw is just like a normal non-horror story and the opening of The Black Cat is a character confiding in the reader about what has happened to him and how he has been affected.
The atmosphere and setting give the reader a strong background feeling about the story. The typical setting of a horror story is a lonely, dark place, like a ruined gothic castle. The setting of The Black Cat is not much like this. It is mainly set inside the man's head, and so does not contain many references to what happens outside in the world. The reader is not given much information about where the man lives, and the actual physical setting of the story. This is because the story is intended to primarily portray the emotions of the ...
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The atmosphere and setting give the reader a strong background feeling about the story. The typical setting of a horror story is a lonely, dark place, like a ruined gothic castle. The setting of The Black Cat is not much like this. It is mainly set inside the man's head, and so does not contain many references to what happens outside in the world. The reader is not given much information about where the man lives, and the actual physical setting of the story. This is because the story is intended to primarily portray the emotions of the character over his actions. The setting of The Squaw is very different to this, although it is also unlike that of a conventional horror story. The setting is very normal and pleasant. The narrator and his wife are on their honeymoon, and the reader is told how the town is very pleasant, because the sun is shining, and the couple are just lazing about enjoying themselves. It comes as a complete shock when the kitten is killed. After this happens, it is still unlike a normal horror story setting, until right at the end, when the cat appears and kills the man. The setting of The Black Cat adds to its overall effect very well, because the story is supposed to show his emotions, and it is a story about a man telling the reader how he became evil and mad, as does the setting of The Squaw, which shows that evil can occur in any place, not just in a typical gothic horror story setting.
Tension is usually viewed as the most important element of the traditional horror story. It keeps the reader interested in the story, and causes them to be scared of what may happen next. Tension is not used to full effect in the two stories. The reader is not given much information in either of them to trigger their imagination and get them thinking about what will happen next. For example, in The Black Cat, the main events happen totally unexpectedly, without any tense build up. In The Squaw, there is a bit of tension, that concerns the reader wondering what the cat is going to do to the man, but there is only one very big event at the end of the story, also without much built up tension. Poe definitely aims to shock the reader in The Black Cat, rather than surprise them. A surprise is when something unexpected happens, but it is usually a good event, and the person it happens to often has some kind of a clue that it will happen. A shock is when something very unexpected happens. It is almost always a bad event, and the person always has no clue whatsoever that it will happen. The reader is shocked on multiple occasions, such as when the narrator cuts his cat's eye out, when he hangs the cat, and when he murders his wife. I believe that Poe never surprises the reader, and that he has no intention of doing so. In The Black Cat, because the reader anticipates the man to do something evil at different points, this affects their feeling on the evil inside the man. They expect the man to commit more acts of evil, but at the same time, they are not sure whether the source of evil may change to become the cat.
On the contrary, Stoker aims to surprise the reader. The reader knows throughout the story that the cat is going to get its revenge some way. When it kills Hutcheson, this is a surprise, because the reader expects it to happen. It may be considered as a bad event, thus being a shock, but it may also be considered a bit like a good thing in a way, because he deserved to die. This feeling of someone deserving an act of revenge adds to the horror theme of the story. The only shock in the story is when the kitten is killed. For these reasons, the usage of shock and surprise in the two stories is very different.
The two men who kill the cats in the two stories have very important roles in the plot, as do their characters. The narrator in The Black Cat seems very emotional. He often confides in the reader about how The Black Cat drives him to insanity, whereas Elias P. Hutcheson is not given a particularly prominent character, and the reader does not learn much about his emotions. In The Black Cat, the narrator is used as the main character, to confide in the reader, about his experiences. In this way, the author brings about the questions about evil and the supernatural. In The Squaw, Hutcheson is instead used as a tool for the plot to be developed. He doesn't have any visible emotions shown. He seems only to be in the story to kill the kitten, and then to be killed at the end. The reader feels sorry for the narrator in The Black Cat, because he is driven to madness and he is very hopeless, but they also feel hatred for him because of all of the cruel things he does.
The cats are probably the most important elements in both of the stories. In The Black Cat, the cat is initially introduced amongst the narrator's other pets, and in The Squaw, the cat is introduced when the characters see it with its kitten.
Unlike at the beginning of The Squaw, at the beginning of The Black Cat, the reader is given a small hint of the supernatural powers of the cat, in the title, because black cats are said to be bad luck, and witches in disguise. When the cat is introduced, it is written in italics. This gives the reader an obvious clue that it plays a big part in the story. In The Squaw, the reader is given no hint whatsoever that the cat has any supernatural powers. It is only at the very end, when the cat kills the man that the reader believes that it may have something out of the ordinary about it, although it never truly seems to have any actual supernatural powers, other than the way it strangely strives to get its revenge, and the way it has the intelligence to kill the man in the way it does. Later on in The Black Cat, the reader is given a larger impression that the cat is supernatural; by the narrator acting like it is driving him to madness. The image of the cat ends up on the wall of the burned down house, and another cat comes into the story, that seems to really be the same cat, and it also has a mark that turns into the shape of the gallows. These things would not happen if there was not an intention of the writer for the cat to be somehow supernatural. On the other hand, in The Squaw, the reader is not given very much of an impression that the cat has any supernatural powers until at the very end. When the cat tries to follow the man, the reader just believes it to just be a normal cat, because it does not succeed. The only hint the reader gets at this point is the amount of hatred the cat seems to show. The author comments on how Hutcheson and the narrator's wife notice this. This is also seen in how the cat tries so hard to reach Hutcheson, to take its revenge, by desperately trying to jump up a huge wall that is seen as totally impossible by the other characters, which are not maddened by anger.
As the story of The Black Cat progresses, the reader thinks of the cat as both a victim of evil, and a source of evil. At the very beginning, the reader believes that the cat will be the source of evil, because black cats are generally thought of as such. When it's eye is cut out, this is when the reader begins to think of it as a complete victim, but as the narrator becomes more demented, they begin to think of it as somehow causing him to do this, and as having some sort of special power. In The Black Cat, the cat is used as a tool to bring out the narrator's character, whereas in The Squaw, the cat is used to provide a victim and a source of evil, to make the reader think about the true meaning of evil. The way the reader recognizes the two stories can vary a lot. They are primarily about the two cats, and whether or not they are the sources of evil in the stories. This means that the reader's understanding of the stories entirely depends on what they think of the cat.
Both of the stories explore the meaning of the nature of evil. The nature of evil is very disputable in both of the stories. They are primarily about the question of whether it is the men or the cats that are the sources of evil. They show that it is really the men who are actually the sources of evil. The stories both have this theme, and both illustrate the men to be the sources of evil, making them similar. In The Black Cat, the man is somehow provoked by the cat to become evil, but in The Squaw, the man is the one to initiate the trouble between himself and the cat, by killing the kitten, meaning that the ways the two men come to be the sources of evil are different. Usually in horror fiction, it is the stereotypical character, like the cat that is the source of evil, and the people are usually victims. The two stories show that these are misconceptions. They are deliberately controversial.
The narrative structures of the stories greatly affect the way in which the reader understands them. As does The Squaw, The Black Cat has a first person narrative. Because of this, the reader can realise the character's feelings and emotions to a much greater extent than if it had a third person narrative. This affects the reader's thoughts about the evil of this character. Because they can realise his feelings, he can tell them why he did things, and his justifications for them. They can then judge for themselves whether he has good reason to do things, and whether or not he is evil. The first person narrative gives the reader an insight into the mind of the evil man. This helps to show them that evil occurs for a reason, and that people are evil because of something that has happened, or a motive that they have. It also implies that evil people are not just the bad things in stories for people hate without thinking about why they evil. Poe tries hard to show this in his story. The first person perspective of The Squaw also contributes to the evil in the story, but in a very different way. The narrator seems quite neutral and unfazed throughout the story. He is nothing like a typical horror story character, and he makes it seem very unconventional. He helps to make the source of evil disputable. His character makes the reader think about what the real evil in the story is. The narrator's character helps the implication that a source of evil is not always where it first seems to be. The evil may be in something or someone that is never expected at first, and that it is not always in the clichéd, expected place.
The viewpoints of the authors are important in understanding the stories, because they tell us the reasons for the stories being written, and how the authors understand the natures of evil and the supernatural. I believe that Poe understands that evil and the supernatural can affect anyone, and that no one is born evil and I believe that his purpose in writing The Black Cat was to give an insight into the mind of someone who goes mad. I believe he wanted to show that people are driven to do evil things, and they do not just suddenly turn evil and crazy. He wanted to show that evil people are people too, like everyone else.
This does not fit the general trend in horror stories very well. Usually, the evil character is just there to be someone for the reader to dislike and fear. The reader is never usually shown any reason for the person to have become evil.
Stoker believes that evil is not always how and where it seems, as Poe also does, and I believe that he wrote The Squaw to show this. This fits the horror story genre in the same way as The Black Cat does because it is not like most horror stories. Like The Black Cat, it depicts a different meaning to evil and the supernatural, and it doesn't rely on clichés.
I believe that evil and the supernatural are well presented in the both of the stories. Both of the authors wrote the stories to give a deeper meaning to the way they are depicted in horror stories. Neither of the two stories is typical of the horror story genre. They are both deliberately meant to show the different ways that evil and the supernatural can exist, that are not usually depicted in horror short stories. I believe The Black Cat to be the more effective as a horror story. The way it depicts the mind of a madman is more effective in horrifying the reader. His feelings and reactions give the reader a chilling and disturbing insight into the mind of an evil, twisted murderer.
