Lossing-Cann/Moran 1

Cezanne Lossing-Cann/Sierra Moran

Cooper/Whipple

English/ History

11/27/16

From The Dark We Flee

Guilt has an incredible impact on the human mind. Its tangibility alters people so

that they that fool themselves and fabricate excuses to rid themselves of their guilt. The

Masque of Red and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe, as well as the Indian Removal

Act, all give insight into this phenomenon.

The Masque of Red Death describes a Princes party in the midst of a plague.

The party is infiltrated by death itself. In The Black Cat a man describes his

relationship with his cat, which grows hateful and violent over time. In both works, The

Black Cat and The Masque of Red Death, guilt is something that the lead character

abhors and pushes away. The black cat and the red death are both walking examples of

the characters wrongdoings and a reminder of their guilt. When faced with his guilt in

The Masque of Red Death, Prince Prospero first shudders then is filled with rage

and moved to eradicate the remainder of his sin. The lead in The Black Cat also

attempts this. However, Poe understands that guilt is not something one can hide from. In

both stories neither character attempts to correct their crimes and so the guilt becomes

closer and closer. The tension builds and guilt grows in his stories. In The Masque of

Red Death a peculiar chime of the clock lets nervousness grow in the crowd.

Similarly, guilt grows in The Black Cat when another cat takes up residence in the
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narrator's home. When the characters try to kill their representations of guilt and free

themselves, their punishment kicks in. Not all who are guilty are met with justice, but Poe

gives an understanding of how guilt itself is a suffocating trial. Guilt is immovable.

Potentially one could remedy it with good deeds, but those cruel people do not see this as

an option. In doing so, they suffer the greatest from guilt.

The trail of tears connects to the motif of guilt through the forced removal of

thousands of Cherokee and other Indigenous nations due to the refusal of the United

States to accept the Native groups as people to fill their own ends. Some accepted their

guilt and argued for the recognition of Cherokee rights. Andrew Jackson created the

Indian removal act in May 1830. This allowed for the president to set aside land in the

west for indigenous tribes in exchange for land in the southeast (Georgia). The

Chickasaw, Choctaw Creek and Cherokee had to each sign treaties that allowed for the

forced removal from their homelands. John Marshall, a Supreme Court justice, sided with

the Cherokee in a legal battle against the government stating that the Cherokee were a

sovereign nation. This recognized the Cherokee as a people that were protected by the

constitution, and therefore were under the responsibility of the government. Andrew

Jackson, despite rulings of the Supreme Court, refused support of native groups and

delayed funding in which they could use in their legal battle against the government. .

Andrew Jackson refuses to accept the guilt of his actions with his refusal to provide

support to the native groups. These actions have some degree of repercussion much like

there is in the black cat and the masque of red death. The main difference though is that
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the worst Jackson faces is being humiliated in the face of the Whigs due to his handlings

of the Supreme Court cases known as The Marshall Trilogy.1

In the diorama, a figure of a black cat placed behind a wall. There is also a

depiction of a black cat in the wider area of the diorama and in the elite realm. The feline

comes from the story, The Black Cat, in which a man in a drunken rage kills his cat and

his wife and places her behind a wall. The cat connects to the motif of guilt because of

its reoccurrence in the story, which torments the man. The noose is placed not only for

added creepy factor, but also as the presence of death that looms overhead similar in the

way that guilt does. What appear to be white cracks on the very bottom of the diorama is

a sketch of the trail of tears. This goes to connect to the genocide that displaced thousands

of indigenous people. The Masque of Red Death tells of the presence of disease,

connecting to the motif of guilt through the characters removal from the outside world as

a way to escape the disease. In the upper box, the elite are celebrating their wealth and

power. King Cotton, King Andrew Jackson (depicted similarly a popular political

cartoon2), and Prince Prospero (The Masque of Red Death) are featured around a table.

However, aspects of the below-ground society are starting to catch up to them. The black

cat is a reminder of those who were oppressed and symbolizes guilt seeping in. The clock

from The Masque of Red Death also shows the mounting pressure to serve their

penance.

The stories The Black Cat and the Masque of Red Death as well as the trail of

tears connect to the Motif of guilt through their removal of objects and persons that cause

1 The Marshall Trilogy was a set of three cases( Johnson v. M'Intosh, Cherokee Nation
v. Georgia, and Worcester v. Georgia)in which the Cherokee nation disputed laws
involving their rights as a nation within the United States.
2
"King Andrew the First was a political cartoon from the early 19th century
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them guilt. The man from The Black Cat kills his cat in rage; The Prince attempts to kill

the masque figure with a knife, and thousands of Native Americans were pushed to the

west. Each action shown as either fleeing from guilt of the guilt that was to come upon

them later.
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Works Cited

"King Andrew the First." Library of Congress. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

<http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661753/>.

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Black Cat." Poestories. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

<http://poestories.com/read/blackcat>.

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Masque of the Red Death." Poestories. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

<http://poestories.com/read/masque>.

Wikipedia contributors. "John Marshall." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Web. 23

Nov. 2016,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Marshall&oldid=751150343>

Wikipedia contributors. "John Ross (Cherokee chief)." Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia. 16 Nov. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Marshall&oldid=751150343>