Beverly Bragg / Goth Lit Proposal 1

Proposal for PCA/ACA 2011 Conference

Beverly Bragg
Texas A&M University-San Antonio
bevbragg123@aol.com

The Gothic Cat and the Family Unit in Edgar Allan Poes The Black Cat and Nancy
Etchemendys Cat in Glass

Writers of Gothic literature often use the cat as a symbol of fear. In this paper, I will
argue that the Gothic cat serves as a surrogate or substitute for absent family members in two
stories: Edgar Allan Poes The Black Cat (1843) and Nancy Etchemendys Cat in Glass
(1989). When members of the existing family units attempt to rationalize the void that exists in
their life due to these absences, they end up projecting their joys, fears and frustrations onto the
cat. The cat, usually an innocuous domestic pet, becomes a symbol of unfulfilled dreams, broken
relationships and aspirations for the remaining family members. As a result, the cat tries to
protect itself by reverting back to its animalistic nature, which causes emotional chaos and
physical death within the family unit.
I plan to contextualize my argument by discussing the history of the domestic cat and its
relationship to humans in general. Then, I will analyze the cats that appear in each story. In Poe's
text, there are two cats: one that is real and one that may be an apparition. In Echemendys text,
the cat is not a real animal, but rather a sculpture imprisoned under a glass dome. Although
Poes second cat and Echemendys primary cat are not technically considered pets, they still
embody the domestic characteristics of the family cat; they arch their backs, they dont always

Beverly Bragg / Goth Lit Proposal 2

like to be touched, they demand attention, and even when they are not the direct focus of the
story, their presence is still felt in the household.
In the second part of my paper, I will analyze the family unit in each story. In The Black
Cat, the narrator and his wife do not have children. The pets they adopt, especially the black cat,
are their children. Accordingly, the black cat becomes the center of attention in the family. When
the cat becomes too dependent on the narrator for attention, the narrator kills him. Because the
cat is a surrogate and not an actual child, the narrator is not bound by the same moral or ethical
codes that are part of a parent-child relationship (i.e. you shouldnt kill your children). In Poes
story, the second cat is not willing to assume the surrogate child role filled by the first cat, which
leads to chaos and ultimately the death of the narrators wife. Next, I will discuss the family unit
in Cat in Glass who also uses a cat as surrogate, and I will argue that the cat not only serves as
a substitute for the deceased mother in the story, but also for the deceased sister, daughter, and
granddaughter. I will conclude this paper by considering why cats, rather than dogs, monkeys, or
snakes, have become such sinister figures in American Gothic literature.