Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this story.

Question

Which quotation from "The Black Cat" best supports the inference that the cat represents the narrator’s sense of guilt?

Responses

“I had walled the monster up within the tomb!"
“I had walled the monster up within the tomb!"

“...my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.”
“...my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.”

“…to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight—an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off—incumbent eternally upon my heart!”
“…to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight—an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off—incumbent eternally upon my heart!”

"I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me."
give a real answer

Answer 1

The quotation that best supports the inference that the cat represents the narrator's sense of guilt is: "I had walled the monster up within the tomb!" This phrase suggests that the narrator feels guilt and remorse for his actions, and the cat symbolizes this guilt as a "monster" that is trapped within a tomb.