Karla Morales

ENG 2001-O525

The spirit of perverseness is the force that drives people to do things that they know will be bad for themselves and others. In the stories “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, both have a character who uses the force of perversion in order to destroy the lives of their loved ones. The narrator in the story “The Black Cat”, and John in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, both create an atmosphere that eventually leads to destruction and tragic events. 

In the story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator confesses his love for animals such as cats and dogs and he marries a woman at a young age. He has a favorite animal which is a black cat named Pluto. Shortly after, he starts suffering from violent mood swings which is the result of his alcoholism. He starts to mistreat his wife and animals, eventually he lashes out on Pluto after getting home drunk one night. The narrator proceeds to take a pocket knife and he cuts the cat’s eyes. The following day he hangs the car from a tree and on the night of Pluto’s death, his house sets on fire. The only thing left standing is a wall with the impression of a black cat. One night after being out drinking he stumbles into a black cat who resembles Pluto and the cat becomes a part of his household. The spirit of perverseness takes over once again leading to his murderous thoughts. One day he trips on the cat and he decides to grab an axe but unexpectedly , the wife defends the animal. The narrator disapproves of this and decides to bury the axe of his wife’s head. The police arrive on the fourth day and discover what he has done.

In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator begins by informing the reader that her husband has taken her to a summer vacation. They are staying at a house that has been empty for a while. She discusses that she suffers from depression and her husband John who also happens to be her doctor constantly disregards her illness and her thoughts.  The solution that is given by her husband John is to not do anything that will make her use her imagination such as writing. She makes the decision to keep a secret journal in order to relieve her mind. She starts to focus more on the house, especially the yellow wallpaper that has different patterns. She becomes more and more fixated on the wallpaper but John refuses to change the wallpaper because he doesn’t want to feed into her worries. She starts seeing a particular pattern and as she spends more time alone, her goal is now to figure out what the pattern of the wall is. The wallpaper starts to take over her imagination because it seems to be the only source of entertainment. She starts sleeping less and mentions that she can smell the wallpaper all over the house. Now the wallpaper starts taking the shape of a woman who is struggling inside the room’s yellow wallpaper. In an effort to help out the woman, she tears  it down. By the end of the story she has gone completely insane thinking that she is the trapped woman.