The Plot

Every story is a complicated thing to analyze it from the viewpoint of the plot. But I'll give it a try.

The story starts with the introduction - "For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, neither expect nor solicit belief." Such introduction prepares readers for the intrigue and sets the tone for the whole story.

Then comes the exposition, where the main character (the narrator) and the scene of the action (one of the scenes) are introduced. We get to know that the nameless narrator is going to die the next die. The narrator is going to reveal what has happened to him and brought him to a cell.

Then comes the author's narration, which stands for the development of events. We find out that the narrator has been especially fond of animals from his infancy, he marries early, and he has now a beautiful large cat - Pluto. Then the main conflict is revealed, which leads to the gradual self-destruction of the protagonist (the narrator): "But my disease grew upon me - for what disease is like Alcohol!", "much intoxicated". The conflict grows bigger and bigger, beginning from the sudden flashes of violence, and finally ends up with the murder of the Pluto - "my favourite pet and animal", "our friendship lasted". But the narrator not simply kills Pluto - "I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb tree". The did is described as a result of "the spirit of PERVERSENESS", that has taken control over the protagonist's soul. The murder of the cat has strong biblical ties, the parallel between the original sin and the cat's murder is very vivid: "a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul". The punishment is near - the house is brought to ashes and CAT is standing on the only survived wall.

The denouement takes place in the new house. When the narrator tries to kill the revived cat and the man's wife tries to interfere - he kills her: "the image of a hideous - of a ghastly thing - oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime - of Agony and of Death". And then again we come across the theme of crime and punishment and a sin in the eyes of God.  The narrator successfully, as he puts it, hides the corpse of his wife. He doesn't bother himself with his wife's death, he is happy for the fact that the cat has run away.

Than comes the conclusion, the final part of the text, which conveys the author's message. In the final part of the text the cat appears again. The narrator is convinced that the cat gas walled himself on purpose to reveal the man's horroful  secret. The story ends up with "I had walled the monster up within the tomb!"

The story under analysis is the 1-st person narration, where the narration is rather subjective and emotional: "I looked upon my future felicity.."; "I said at last."; "I quivered not in a muscle". From the very beginning the narrator gives us a riddle: "I neither expect nor solicit belief."; "Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream", We cannot say for sure if the narrator tells the truth or lies. The text should be read between-the-lines, the true symbolic meaning is hidden.