Content Warning: This section references animal cruelty and alcohol addiction.

The text makes use of Christian ideas about hell and damnation, as well as The Sources of Sin. In the Bible’s first book, Genesis, the fallen angel Satan tempts Adam and Eve to taste of the forbidden fruit of knowledge. This results in humanity’s expulsion from Eden as well as an inherited propensity to do evil—i.e., “original sin.” Evil is therefore both external and internal in Christianity; demonic figures may try to tempt humans into doing wrong, but humans are also inherently flawed. This is what makes Jesus’s atonement necessary, as it redeems humanity from its fallen state, making salvation possible.

“The Black Cat” unfolds within this context, but while the narrator describes God as merciful as well as terrible, the narrator’s damnation seems a foregone conclusion by the time he hangs Pluto on the tree. Although the narrator at times expresses regret for his actions, he doesn’t fully repent of them; in fact, he increasingly attributes them to malign outside influences, describing the second cat as a representative of hell. His failure to grasp his own sinfulness contributes to the

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