REVISE – The Black Cat #620955 - Prove ed esercizi Zanichelli

STEP 5 Think further and prepare for your test: perverseness

In the passage below, critic Benjamin De Casseres (1873-1945) reflects on 'perverseness', a concept that Edgar Allan Poe explored extensively in his tales. Read the text and consider its relevance to The Black Cat. Then, decide if the statements are true or false and use the prompts below to write some extra reflections in your exercise book. You can use the final text as revision material for your test.

'We've all got that 'imp' in us. It makes us do things we ought not to do. It whispers to us to lean as far over a cliff as we can. It literally forces us to wound a friend with an insult. It shouts in our mental ear 'Do it! Do it!' when we have resolved not to do it. What or who is this Imp of the Perverse? Poe doesn't tell us for he cannot. It is one of the insoluble mysteries of the soul… Why should Nature, which does everything to cause us to fight for self-survival, put a voice – or an imp – in our soul that deliberately advises us to destroy ourselves? … You – and I – know that imp.'

From Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Imp of the Perverse,' in The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Vol. III: Tales and Sketches, ed. T. O. Mabbott (1978), pp. 1217 1227.)

Prompts:
1 Refer to STEP 4 and argue how the chosen narrative mode is especially suited to exploring the concept of perverseness (think about the process of identification between the narrator and the reader).
2 Refer to item 4 of STEP 3 and the box 'Settings and characters' in section 6.23 of your textbook to explain how the cellar can relate to both safety and entrapment.
3 Refer to section 6.23 of your textbook and, in particular, the box 'Themes', to further explain the role conscience plays in the short story.

A: The passage suggests that perverseness is a universal human impulse, not limited to immoral individuals.

B: The passage concludes that humans are more inclined toward self-destruction rather than self-preservation.

C: In The Black Cat, perverseness is portrayed as a purely supernatural force rather than a psychological one.

D: The narrator explicitly recognises perverseness as a force behind his actions.

E: The narrator's decision to confess indirectly at the end of the story reflects the same perverse impulse described in the passage.

F: Both the passage and the story fully explain the psychological causes of man's perverse actions.

Revise

Vero o falso

STEP 4 An unreliable narrator

The narrator in The Black Cat presents the events subjectively, blurring reality and deception. Select the statements that show the narrator cannot be trusted.

A: The narrator justifies his cruelty as the result of external forces, such as alcohol.

B: The narrator relates the events in chronological order.

C: The narrator minimises his responsibility for harming others.

D: The narrator openly admits that he killed Pluto.

E: The narrator attempts to persuade the reader of his own innocence.

F: The narrator is prone to extreme mood swings.

Revise

Scelta multipla

STEP 3 Recognise the symbols

For each symbol from The Black Cat, choose the alternative that best reflects its meaning in the story.

1 The black cat Pluto can best be interpreted as ________.
2 The house fire can be read as ________.
3 The second cat mainly stands for ________.
4 The cellar ultimately functions as ________.

Revise

Completamento chiuso

STEP 1 Restore the timeline

Read the events carefully and arrange them in the order in which they happen in the story.Write the correct numbers (1-9) in the gaps.

The narrator begins to mistreat his pets.          ________
The cat, Pluto, is injured by the narrator.           ________
The narrator marries and lives peacefully.           ________
A second black cat appears.           ________
The narrator kills Pluto.           ________
The narrator's house burns down.           ________
The narrator kills his wife.           ________
The narrator is arrested.           ________
The narrator sees the image of a cat with a rope around his neck.          ________

Revise

Completamento aperto

STEP 2 From the cat's eye

Imagine you are the second cat from the story, and are telling the events from its point of view. Complete the text with the words given.

I watched him from the dark ________ of the room, careful not to make a sound. My single ________ followed every movement, and I could sense his fear even before he saw me. The first cat had long ________ from this house, but I was here to remind him of the deeds he thought ________. There was tension in the air, a ________ of what was to come. He was about to understand that my patch carried a message he could not ignore: the ________ awaited him.

Revise

Posizionamento