The narrator married early and was happy with his wife and pet cat Pluto. He began drinking heavily and mistreating his animals and wife, eventually cutting out one of Pluto's eyes in a fit of rage. Later, a black cat with a white mark resembling a gallows is found. The narrator avoids the cat due to shame over abusing Pluto. When the police investigate after his wife's murder, the cat cries out from behind a wall, where the police discover it sitting on his wife's decapitated head.

2. “I married early, and was happy to find my
wife”
“Pluto was my favorite pet
and playmate”

3. The conflict begins to unfold when the man describes the way his personality
changed for the worse when he started drinking heavily.

4. He mistreats his animals and
his wife but does not harm
Pluto until one night he lashes
out at Pluto and cuts out one
of his eyes.
“One morning I decided to….”

5. A new black cat is discovered in a barrel of alcohol with a white mark on his fur resembling gallows (things to hang people from)
. A new black cat is discovered in a barrel of alcohol with a white mark on his fur resembling gallows (things to hang people from)

6. “ I avoided the creature; a
certain sense of shame, and
the remembrance of my
former deed of cruelty,
preventing me from physically
abusing it. I did not, for
some weeks”

8. The police show
up on the
fourth day after
the murder and
the narrator
takes them on a
tour of the
house to ease
their suspicions.

9. At this point the cat cries out from
behind the wall, the police tear it
away and discover the cat sitting
on top the dead wife's head.

10. “I wish I could write as
mysterious as a cat.”
Edgar Allan Poe.