3. • The story opens in the cell of a prisoner the day
before he is to be executed by hanging.
• After introducing himself to readers as a man
who underwent a horrifying experience, the
prisoner writes down the details of this
experience, which led to his imprisonment and
planned execution.
• The events in his tale are set at his home and in a
tavern. Although these events take place over
several years, the recounting of these events in
writing takes place on a single day in the
narrator's prison cell.
4.
5. The Narrator, a prisoner scheduled for execution. His loathing of
a cat he once loved leads to his commission of a capital crime.
The Narrator's Wife, a woman of agreeable disposition who likes
animals and obtains many pets for her husband.
First Black Cat, a cat named Pluto that loves the narrator but
irritates him when it follows him everywhere.
Second Black Cat, a cat that resembles the first black cat and may
be a reincarnation of the latter–or so the narrator may think.
Policemen, officers who investigate the happenings at the home
of the narrator.
