Compare and Contrast Essay: Coraline and The Black Cat

The film “Coraline” and the story “The Black Cat”, by Edgar Allen Poe, were written in two very different time periods. “The Black Cat” was published in 1843 and “Coraline” was produced in 2009, because of this there are some differences that can only be explained by time. For example the use of women in both of the stories is very different because of the difference in time periods. There are some differences that are not caused by the time period but by how the writer wanted the story to be viewed.  In “Coraline” and “The Black Cat” the uses of women and the cats are very different at times yet somewhat similar, this shows the difference in time periods between the two stories, and the difference of how the writer wanted the story to be viewed.

In both “Coraline” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe, the uses of women show the power system of the story. Though both stories use women, the uses of women show contrasting views, this makes sense because it is based off of the time period. In the time “The Black Cat” was written women were not viewed as much more than objects, the mindset was that a woman needed a strong male figure in her life. When “Coraline” was written, America was way past this thought process, women could now be independent and it would be not only accepted but expected. In “Coraline”, which was produced in 2009, the women are the main characters, they are often seen bossing around the men of the storm, showing how the power system of this movie works. An example of this is when Beldam made the piano control her husband, this symbolizes that she is in complete control over her house, another example of this is that the main character is a female. In “The Black Cat '' there are rarely seen women until the very last scene, whenever our narrator kills his wife, after she attempts to protect the 2nd cat. The text states “ Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hither to stayed my hand, 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. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.”(Poe, 8) The fact that the one time a woman is mentioned, she is getting murdered for trying to save her cat shows that the power system in this story lies with the men. The main character in this story is a male character, this also shows how the power system was shown to be.

Another similarity the “Coraline” and “The Black Cat” have is the use of the black cat. In the stories the black cat is shown as a bad omen, something that shows bad things are coming. In “Coraline”, the cat's first appearance is when Wyborne rides in on his motorcycle. Between the loud noises and fast movements the cat is shown in an uncomfortable way making the watcher feel a bad energy from the mysterious animal, later on in the story the cat begins to help Coraline try to escape the Beldam. This changes the tone of the cat's character, now the cat is seen as a helping hand and also another trapped soul in the Beldams world, this makes the watcher feel way more comfortable towards the cat. In “The Black Cat” the cat is seen as a bad omen but also helpless throughout the whole story. The cat is the first victim the narrator kills, showing that is a helpless being. Then throughout the story we see the cat take revenge in ways like burning down the narrator's house. “The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire—a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words “strange!” “singular!” and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat.” (Poe, 5) In “The Black Cat” there is also a second cat that is shown in very ominous situations also, like on top of our narrator's dead wife's body, after she was hidden in the bricks. This is the continuation of showing the cat in the story as a bad omen. When the end of the stories comes the cats are used in completely different ways, but in the beginning of each of the stories the cats are used in very similar ways, being shown as bad omens.

The use of women and black cats in these stories show how even though they are in the same genre, gothic romanticism, they tell very different stories. Differences in “Coraline” and “The Black Cat” are based on the time period they were written in, and the writing styles of the authors. Overall the stories have similar aspects that they use in completely different ways, especially when looking at the use of women and black cats.