Question

Which quotation from "The Black Cat" best supports the inference that the cat represents the narrator’s sense of guilt?

A. “For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse."

B. "I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me."

C. “…to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight—an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off—incumbent eternally upon my heart!”

D. “...my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.”

Answer 1

In this short story of Edgar Allan Poe, narrator blames a black cat which his wife brought home and how it became the point of view of all problems for him. When he unfolds the story, we observe that the problem is not the cat, but it is his mind. The correct answer is A.

Answer 2

The correct answer is C. “…to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight—an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off—incumbent eternally upon my heart!”

The first two excerpts tell us what the narrator wants to tell. But this one shows it, and that's the difference. He can't collect himself even as he recounts this event from the past. The cat is "an incarnate Night-Mare", "incumbent eternally upon my heart", which means that it represents his sense of guilt, it haunts him just like a guilt, much as he wants to suppress the feeling.