Evaluating in Context

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1		This link examines some of the recurrent motifs in the stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe. Consider the use of the eye motif in "The Black Cat." What might it signify?



2		This link to "The Poe Decoder," a site with a series of critical essays on Edgar Allan Poe, includes one that examines the use of perversity in "The Black Cat." (It also has a link to the on-line text of "The Black Cat.") Read the short essay "The Compulsion to Perverseness: 'The Black Cat'" and explain whether or not you agree that the narrator's "crowning act of perversity" is betraying the location in the wall where he has hidden his wife and his cat. Is there something else he does that is more perverse, in your opinion?



3		This link connects to a number of engravings and daguerreotypes of Poe made during and after his lifetime. What does his appearance suggest to you? Choose one of the images, and describe Poe's appearance-does it in any way betray the sadness that he experienced in his personal life? Does it remind you of any of the characters in his story?

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