The Black Cat The Home Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)

Quote #1

My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. (1)

There is a certain amount of undeniable truth to this assertion. It's almost as if the narrator is telling the reader that this scenario could happen in anybody's house, at any time. Here we have one of many examples of the narrator deflecting responsibility for his actions. But he's also alerting the reader that his story might hit close to.

Quote #2

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. (3)

This sounds promising, sort of. It suggest that either the narrator doesn't know the woman very well, or that he does but isn't that into her. Instead of saying "we get along really well," he says "we didn't get along too badly." (It pays to notice when something seemingly positive is phrased in the negative.)

Quote #3

I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. (6)

Before the narrator turned on the woman, he turned on the animals. Without excusing the man, is it possible that married life and pets proved too much for him? He say he "married early"(3). From what he tells us, he'd never had a relationship with a person before, except maybe his parents.