THE BLACK CAT
843
two figures, of which one embodies all her good, the other all her
evil,
qualities. The cat, the wicked or dangerous mother's familiar,
appears in legend as though the latter's shadow, reflection or double.
We find an explicit allusion to this deep and ancient bond in the
opening of
The Black Cat,
for the narrator, referring to Pluto's in–
telligence, informs us that his wife,
"who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made fre–
quent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded
all
black cats as witches in disguise."
Here again, it is superstition which proves right as regards psychic
reality.
In
Poe's case, the reader may recall the two cats in
Loss of
Breath
which, more drastic than Pluto, relieve Mr. Lacko'breath of
part of his nose after bounding into the surgeon's garret "a la Cata–
lini," as might a skilled dancer or the sylph-like Elizabeth Arnold.
Yet though a cat, male or female, may represent the female
genitals, why did not Poe choose a female cat for his tale, given the
constant presence of Catterina? Some further factor must have
determined the choice of a Pluto, rather than a Proserpine, to
symbolize the mother who continued to haunt him from the grave.
This further factor, doubtless, was some lingering reminiscence of
the "phallic mother" of those distant days when women, to little
boys, were all endowed with the penis. Every small boy starts out
believing that all creatures are identical and made in his own
image, with all his attributes, including first and foremost the penis,
an organ of prime importance by the titillations it evokes in urination
.and when stimulated sexually, which feelings are present at a very
early age.
6
Masturbation in little boys, when discovered, is often
repressed by threats that the member will be cut off, or by remarks
which the child similarly interprets, thus instilling fears of damage
to, and anxiety for, the cherished member. But it is the discovery
that a whole class of beings- namely girls and women- are in fact
and for ever deprived of penises, that gives the castration threat
its actuality and full horror. And, indeed, many years pass before the
little boy will accept this difference in the sexes and "believe his
own eyes," so painful does he find its acceptation. Even when at
last he does, he consoles himself by thinking that little girls grow
