Thursday, October 11, 2012

I want to know more about the characteristics in "The Black Cat". Who is the main character and what are the characteristics for all the characters...

The main character would be our unnamed narrator. He is a crazy man who thinks he is sane. He starts out telling the reader that is was once a gentle and docile man who loved animals, and it is the cat that changes him into the monster. He honestly doesn't want to hurt the animal(s), but something from "beyond" entices him to do so, even leading to the death of his wife. If you believe he is a reliable narrator, then he would be a round character (many different traits) that changes over time (dynamic). If you think he is an unreliable narrator, I would still say he is a round character, but a static character (doesn't change over time).



The wife is the other main character. She is kind and understand and an unfortunate victim of her husband's wrath. She's a rather minor character, flat (one characteristic) and static (doesn't change, unless you count death as a change, but it isn't really a personality change).



The police officers are minor, static, flat characters.



You could make an argument that the cats (Pluto and the second black cat) are characters, but it's hard to classify them because, unless you really get to know a cat, it's hard to determine the personality. If you believe the narrator that the cat was spiting him on purpose, the cats could be considered round characters.

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