The Black Cat - Abnormal Madness It seems that almost every Edgar Allen Poe story ever written has a much deeper and darker meaning hidden within its lines. Many of these pieces are quite demented even if the reader doesn't read "between the lines". "The Black Cat" is an example of this type of story. In this morbid look into the mind of the narrator, the reader follows him as he does many disturbing things in his family. This story, like many of Poe's other pieces, is an adventure into abnormal psychology in which the narrator is completely mad, not only because of the horrible things he does to his cat and his wife, but because of his state of mind. which shows the reader throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator causes the writing to be "clearly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of simple domestic events" (p. 1495). As the story progresses, the reader discovers that this is clearly not the case at all. The events contained in the text of this story are unmistakably the ramblings of a madman who cannot seem to control his actions and continues to slide further and further into madness. In the first paragraph of the story the narrator begins to defend himself by saying that he is not crazy. It definitely seems like he's trying to reassure himself more than the reader about his state of mind. This seems to be Poe's way of gradually showing the reader that this story is, in fact, an exploration of the abnormal psychology of the human mind. The narrator says that since childhood he has been considered a very docile person. He also mentions in the first part of the story that his “My tenderness of heart was so evident that it made me the mockery of my companions” (p. 1495). At the point in the story where he says all this, it seems quite doable. However, as the reader continues reading the rest of the story, he discovers that this is not the narrator's current behavior at all. Only by seeing what is obvious in the narrator, nor by reading deeper into his mindset, can the reader deduce that the man is probably not a reliable source of correct information..