Read both the excerpt from the short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe and the poem "Pluto's Plea."
Pluto's Plea
By Renae James
You've changed. You've changed.
Nothing remains the same.
You love for me I cannot see, and I do not think it remains.
You're mad. You're mad.
Your mood swings have gotten bad.
You mistreat your wife and me, and this change in you makes us sad.
I'm scared. I'm scared.
You acted like you cared.
I'll run away and never look back—this relationship can never be repaired.
Just leave. Just leave.
Please give us some reprieve.
Your mood swings are unbearable, and it scares us to see you seethe.
From "The Black Cat"
by Edgar Allan Poe
Pluto—this was the cat's name—was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.
Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character—through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance—had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!—and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish—even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.
Write one paragraph comparing and contrasting the excerpt from the story with the poem. Be sure to address at least one similarity and one difference with evidence.