Draft

Sigmund Freud in his “Five Lectures of Psychanalysis” formulated many theories and conclusions dealing with mental disorders. Many experiments and analyses were done to understand these patients’ sufferings and figure out what made them worse and what helps them progress. For example, the ideas of wishful impulses, and mnemic symbols can bring out the worse in a patient. Wishful impulses being desires and wants even though they could be seen as wrong and a mnemic symbols being symbols that make you relieve the trauma that is affecting you. These two theories can be seen in the short story, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe an American author known for his gritty and spooky short stories. “The Black Cat” is a short tale about a narrator reflecting on his murders on his cat Pluto and his wife while being held in jail. Many events lead up to this point and Freuds theories support the reason why. In “The Black Cat” the narrator murdering his wife and cat is the product of mnemic symbols and wishful impulses.

The narrator’s wishful impulses is what drove him to kill Pluto. He introduced us to his love of animals and animals being a big part of his life growing up, but hatred grew in him as he got older. But, throughout his life he started growing hatred I and displayed it on his other animals and even his wife, but he restrained himself from hurting Pluto. So, one can assume his relationship with Pluto was very loving and close, but when his alcoholism changed all of that surfacing his wishful impulses. “One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence… I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!” (Poe 6). The narrator’s anger of Pluto avoiding him enraged him so in return his desire was to inflict pain, which he did by seizing one of Pluto’s eye.  Knowing his wishful impulse of inflicting pain on Pluto happened due to having the feeling of Pluto avoiding him, it’s what lead to the murder of Pluto. As Pluto continued to avoid the narrator after he took his eye, his wishful impulse surfaced again. But, this time his wishful impulse lead him to hang Pluto and take his life and in the moment, he thought was right but later dreaded it which is exactly what a wishful impulse. He desired to inflict pain on Pluto not knowing how it’ll affect him later and a wishful impulse is a desire or want you want fulfilled in the very moment.

Mnemic Symbols is the reason why the narrator killed his wife. “Their symptoms are residues and mnemic symbols of particular (traumatic) experiences” (Freud 2206). Freud is saying that mnemic symbols are the symbols that trigger the patient to experience their traumatic experience. This is seen in The Black Cat, when the narrator explains the second cat. The second cat was a mnemic symbol reminding him of the trauma he had with Pluto, which was his guilt that became anger. “At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly—let me confess it at once—by absolute dread of the beast” (9).  He grew that hatred again with the second cat and he wanted to kill it just like Pluto but his guilt of his “former crime” stopped him from doing so. Not to mention this cat also having one eye missing, and black just like Pluto. But, just as his guilt built up and turned to anger with Pluto, the second cat had the same destiny. The second being a mnemic symbol of Pluto it brought back his wishful impulse of inflicting pain. “I aimed a blow at the animal, which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain.” (Poe 11). This is the narrators breaking point of where his wishful impulse of inflicting pain surfaces due to the second cat and in his attempt to killing it his wife got in the way leading to her death. To sum it up, due to. The second cat reminding him of Pluto it led to the same trauma but this time his wife tried to prevent the car from dying leading to him killing her with the axe.

The Freudian concepts of Wishful impulses and mnemic symbols broke down the character and made him take everything he had from himself. His wishful impulses of inflicting pain and the second cat being a mnemic symbol of Pluto lead to his loss of his wife and Pluto. ( Come back to conclusion)