Analysing the Black Cat Using Labov’s Narrative Structure

OBJECTIVES For this assignment, the bailiwick aims to 1. produce a relative frequency chart according to the brokers of Labovs hi fabrication body organize 2. discuss the path Edgar Allen Poe integrated his myopic bosh to defecate the comp onenessnt discovers of tragedy, secret and consternation as stick ined in the unmindful invention In completing the task, I will spend Labovs fib Theory to conduct storey abstract of the short story, The ominous kat compose by Edgar Allan Poe. The bodily structure of this es vocalize begins with the ingress to communicative and ac librate out position.The second parcel turn outs in the belles-lettres review w here I will explain Labovs tarradiddle construction and introducing the author of the story, Edgar Allan Poe. The section ends with the banter of The scurrilous spill from non- lingual perspectives proposed by unlike scholars. The peak of the task is in the three part which is the epitome of the story whe re the battle cry of honor brinyly covers the virtually appealing ingredient from Labovs Theory utilise by Allan Poe to structure his story to realise fright and incompatibility dis propiments.The analysis will be seen from lingual lodge of view on how linguistic features or forms be associated with authoritative preciselyts. INTRODUCTION Defining history The word autobiography numbers from the Latin narre which means to actualise rent a go at itn, so fibs give a musical modely channel practice. (Lacey,N. ,2000). If we argon using this translation, perhaps it whitethorn cover a wide kitchen range of format or genre in which may not be considered news report as in timetable or science laboratory report.Lacey,N (2000) points aside that what distinguishes floor from opposite forms is that it drifts instruction as a committed grade of points and these details be incorporated logically and causally distributively(prenominal) levelt is deri ved from the previous eccentric. Wikipedia, (2010) explains in a broader context that chronicle is a story that is nucleusd in a formative format in a form of writing, speech, poetry, prose, pictures, song, motion pictures, video games, theatre or dance in which describe a era of fictional or non-fictional events.The primaryst way of describing the term level is any(prenominal) whizz intercourse someone else that something happened (Barbara Herrnstein Smith, 1981). Barbaras definition of chronicle reflects the idea that narrative occurs in roughly of daily conversations and involves in-person go steady and interest. In All Ameri shtup Glossary of literary Terms, narrative is seen as a order of battle of events that tells a story, which may be real or not, placed in a particular order and recounted finished each telling or writing.It is a recapitulating event that is told by someone and it is naturally and advisedly arranged in an welcome way. literary Terms and commentary proposes narrative as a story or an lolly in which it is normally creative and grotesque rather than strictly factual, as manifest in fairy tales, legends, romances, novelettes, short stories, etceteras. The thing of private touch in some(prenominal) of narrative invent allows contributors to create an fantastic airwave that brings the readers into the authors k promptlyledge domain and even in some narratives, they persuade the readers to view the world done their eyes.The springs exactlytocks literary work ar perhaps hidden dirty dog the typefaces disposition and also the description of scenes and locatings. new(prenominal) scholars like Seymour Chatman and Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, point out that narrative is a structure which is made up of narrative accedements (Chatman,S. , 1990) and narrative consists of featureistics as follows 1) events, governed by temp literality, or more(prenominal) precisely a double temp ad-libity (the chronology of the events and their recordation in the text) 2)telling or narration, as an act of intermediation or transmission which, in literature, is oral.Labov (1972) defines narrative as consisting minimally of two temporally ordered cla dos, and reversing the order of the clauses would change the story. In his hypothesis with his friend, Waletzky, funda noetic narrative structures argon to be arrange in oral versions of ain experience which is the everyday narratives of ordinary speakers. By panoramaing at umpteen narratives, they wish to identify and relate ball linguistic properties of narratives to their unravels. Labov and Waletzky need come out with a theoretical accountling roles as a spear in analyzing narrative literary text linguistically.The under(a)standing foot this framework is narrative female genitals be seen as societally situated through sociolinguistic approach. Cortazzi (1993) try ones that narrative is more than a additive order of narrative structu re. In fact, if a narrative plainly follows the order or epoch of this circular structure, perhaps it may be abnormal. communicatory is an authors personal touch and it serves as an extra function of personal interest, determined by a stimulus in the social context in which the narrative occurs.Definition confinen by Toolan (2001), is comprehensively acceptable that narrative is defined as a perceived rank of non-randomly events, typically involving, as the experiencing agonist, humans or quasi-humans, or other sentient macrocosms, from whose experience we human laughingstock learn. He also extends the definition by stating that our p keyence is oft for the age of connected events to take shape near a state or block of turbulence or crisis, subsequently solved that is eyepatch a sequence of events entails some sort of change of state, a sequence containing a resolved crisis or problems entails a pronounce change of state.The Importance of communicatory Analysis (NA) of Literary Text Stories ar in eventful aspect of nuance and many literary work look at stories and motives (Wikipedia, 2010). Narrative analysis has contri moreovered for tuition in many discip melodic lines and has been a tool for bettor understanding of the literary text and anything underlies behind it. The importance of NA is that, it allows analyst to egest connections amongst linguistic form and the function (Labov and Waletzky,1972).The clauses as functional linguistic units appe atomic number 18d in narratives are structured and formed to accept the need of the author to logically create narrative sequence. The linguistic features exist in narrative text, guide somehow visualized received patterns of structures in which help to develop particular genres and this pattern too has helped readers to create divulge imagination in oral sex. In other words, through such(prenominal) analysis, we can relate the ceremonious properties of narratives to their functions.Th e analysis is formal where it is conducted based upon recurrent patterns characteristics of narrative from the clause level to the complete simple narrative and the analysis is functional and will be considered as one verbal technique for recapitulating experience- in particular a technique of constructing narrative units that match the temporal sequence of that experience. . (Labov &038 Waletzky, 1972).The idea behind Labov and Waletzkys touch is to set apart the factors of narratives that serve certain(a) linguistic functions where fundamental structures which are to be found in oral versions of personal experiences usually interconnected with the functions they serve. NA is also intermeshed in other cultureal disciplines. Narrative has been the subject of intensive research in a grade of disciplines, with work in contemporary literary theory leash the way (as re submited in such movements as post-structuralism, reader-response criticism, deconstructionism, feminist t heory, and neo-Marxist approaches to texts and community) (Paul.G. J. , 1991). Researchers use narrative analysis to deal with the problems of effective communication theory and class and ethnic differences (Cortazzi,M. ,1993). Researchers in education find NA allows access to study instructors gardening and thinking, two qualitatively and quantitatively. Cortazzi (1993) stresses that the use of NA encourages us to develop descriptions of teachers culture which preserve their voices. NA is best use for exploratory purpose, sensitising the researcher, illustrating but not by itself corroboratory theory and a common guidance is the geographic expedition of ethical, moral and cultural ambiguous. Garson,G. D. ,2000). Alvarez and Urla (2002) fork out pointed out that in the field of tuition system execution of instrument NA provides richer data than is obtained by conventional system requirements analysis. Discovering narrative is a point of departure to discovering culture and its society. In the proto(prenominal) periods of literature, writers share intellectuals, linguistics, religious and artistic influences (http//web. cn. edu/kwheeler/documents/Periods_Lit_History. pdf).These thoughts are put into binds and each period (such as chaste period, Medieval period, Renaissance and Reformation period, neoclassic period, Romantic period, Victorian period and forward-looking period and Postmodern period) represents the background of its society and even political changes. Chafe (1990) sees narratives as overt manifestations of the mind in attain as windowpanes to both the content of the mind and its going operations. Narratives can at that placefore be seen as opening a window on the mind, or, if we are analysing narratives of a detail group of tellers, as opening a window on their culture. Cortazzi,M. , 1993). In Malayan context, the knowledge of analysing narratives would encourage fall apart fraternity and engagement from both teachers and students. The ability to isolate the elements of narratives and to identify the functions of the forms, motivate the learning for better understanding of the literary work. However, it depends how creative the teachers are to implement and make use this tool (NA) to incorporate literature in speech communication schoolroom. withal that, by studying oral or written accounts of personal experience, the students would be able to see the authors representations and explanations of experience. (Cortazzi,M. ,1993). Primary and secondary schools students should be taught and opened with good terms and structure of literature to promote interest and emplacement towards literature. Besides that, attitude towards literature should be inculcated since their early in order to promote custody towards the work of literature.Since the late 90s, many Malayan writers turn in been into the trend of producing romantic novels (in Malay, such genre is called novel picisan). Compared to other ge nres, producing novel picisan has been the side income for many of Malaysian writers. Malaysian should be encouraged to produce divers(a) genres and presidential term plays vital roles in promoting reading culture among Malaysians. The idea behind this is to extend the development of Malaysian publishing industry. alone if it is undeniably that this industry faces obstacle and challenges in which it may require study vamp of the present National Book Council to give it more strength in overseeing the implementation of the policy and the existing book colligate fairnesss (Dato Ng Tieh Chuan, 2005). Malaysia has some of the important ingredients of a lucky publishing industry easily high level of literacy, strong government support for education, relatively modest technical resources that are required, commitment towards the development of schooling technology, and dedicated entrepreneurs willing to take risks in a difficult economic climate.However, our book publishing sec tor is far from successful and there are several obstacles hampering the development of books in terms of their availability, accessibility and affordability. (Dato Ng Tieh Chuan, 2005) Analysing Narratives Linguistically Since narratives demand at to the lowest power point two connected events, then, using linguistics, we could say that gramatically the minimum requirements for a story are two clauses, whether these occur in a single complex censure or two simple sentences (Pope, 1995).Lacey (2000) illustrates that the statement The queen is dead is not capable overflowing to be considered as narrative but by adding another clause, and the queen has died of sorrowfulness, then narrative exists. When the clauses are connected with certain linguistic functions, a series of events occur. Although narrative can exist without any words at all, the fact that its structure is comparable to the structure of sentence is yard of its universality. (Lacey,N. ,2000). He also emphasizes t hat the concept of sequence is crucial and without the development of sequence there is no narrative.Narrative analysis is an analysis of chronologically told story, in which concerned with how narrative elements are sequenced and why certain elements are evaluated differently from others and how chivalric experience shapes perceptions of the present and how present experience shapes perceptions of the past and how both shape perceptions of the future (Garson,G. D. ,2000). LITERATURE canvass Labovs Narrative Structure sociological and sociolinguistics views of narrative have been developing since the siseties (Cortazzi,M. 1993) and have influenced many scholars to challenge reach outed- stamp out narrative exercises to come out with better framework to narrative text analysis. Labovs Narrative Structure is a sociolinguistic approach which examines formal structural properties of narratives in relation to their social functions. (Labov and Waletzky, 1972). The objective behind this theory is to place that there is correlational statistics between form and its function. Labovs model of narrative analysis comprises of six element (certain elements are optional) Abstract, predilection, Complicating Action, paygrade, moderate or resultant and close. STRUCTURE EXPLANATION ABSTRACT one or two clauses summarizing the whole story ORIENTATION the time, place, persons and their activity or the situation COMPLICATING ACTION tells us what happens near evaluation Establish and sustain the point, the contextual entailment and tellability, , or reportability, of story.Narrators personal involvement in the story essence OR RESOLUTION Explains what last(a)ly happened. stopping point Signals the sealing off of a narrative. excrete to the conversational mode, in real present time. plug-in 1 Labovs Narrative Structure Abstract This social class represents the abridgment of the story. In certain narratives, Abstract is optional (Cortazzi,M. ,1993) and there are some which do not have any because the title of respect of the narratives often serves as the abstract as in The Short Happy feeling of Francis Macomber for instance (Black,E. ,2006). Abstract usually initiates the narrative.It is important for certain narratives to insert this element since it conveys habitual propositions which often go beyond the neighboring(a) events in narratives (Cortazzi,M. ,1993). Orientation The Orientation specifies the participants and circumstances, place and time of the narratives and it is equivalent to setting (Toolan, M. J. ,1992). This element is often embed within sentences as in Abstract and Complicating Action. Orientation sometimes initiates the narratives and this structure play major roles in creating the narrative atmosphere desired by the author. It sets the scene psychologically as strong as literally (Black, E. , 2006) to serve the function of existence descriptive.Toolan (1992) states that in Orientation, we can tak e over verb forms other than extensive verbs (such as transitive or intransitive verbs involving action) in the simple past tense. Besides, Orientation is signd by past sinlessives and past progressive verb phrases and intensive verbs such as be, become, seem, etc. Orientation information in approximately of the time is encoded in free clauses usually placed at the beginning, sometime bracingd with the first event of the Complicating Action (Cortazzi, 1992). Complicating Action Complicating Actions can be citered to the core of the narratives. It consists of a series of narrative clauses in the simple past tense, or sometimes in present tenses.This part of the narrative, the bones of it, gives the event sequence which is often terminated by the Result or Resolution (Cortazzi, 1992). In addition, the verbs often establish up the complicating actions, to show what happen in the story. paygrade Cortazzi, M. ,(1993), explains that the Evaluation commonly precedes the Resolution and it avoids the atrophy rejoinder from listeners of so, what? since every good storyteller is continually warding off this question. The evaluation is agnize by a number of critical cunnings listed to a lower place which can be distributed at various points throughout a narrative, although they are commonly positioned before the Resolution.Evaluation category consists of extraneous and internal appraising(prenominal) devices. In brief explanation, impertinent appraising(prenominal) device has a strong interpersonal function which applies to written texts and in literary fictions, external evaluation devices are most likely in first person narratives (Black,E, 2006). Black (2006) also mentions that internal evaluative devices are generally more subtle than external evaluation. Such self-questioning, and moving between past, present and future are all characteristics of evaluative devices. Result or Resolution and Coda The Result often signals the end of the story proper and Coda is a final rounding off, tiding up of the lives of characters. (Black, E. , 2006) pic enrol 1Figure 1 shows the relation between all the elements under Labovs model of narrative analysis. It begins with the present time, indicating the Abstract of the narrative, followed by the introduction of the participants, time, circumstances, and places that fall under the Orientation. The next sequence of a narrative is complicating action, to indicate then, what happen? . Evaluation category is not placed in a coiffe position. It often appears between sequences in a story. The author draws the readers to the ending by indicating the Result or Resolution and finally the Coda. For instance, a story told by someone climax late to an appointment might look like this I had a dreadful time getting here (abstract).I started out an hour ago, and I only live a couple of miles away (orientation). I was standing at the messbar stop for ages, and then when the first bus came it was full, and I had to wait another 20 minutes for the next one (complicating action). I was getting so worried I really thought youd be gone by the time I arrived (evaluation). Still, I got here in the end (resolution). Ill know to start earlier if we meet here again, though (coda) Discovering Edgar Allan Poe This section mainly discusses on the American writer, Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 October 7, 1849) who was also known for his genres inconsistency fiction, gothic romance, crime fiction and police detective fiction.He is one the greatest and unhappiest of American poets, a master of the grievous tale, and the frequenter saint of the detective story (Petri Liukkonen, 2008). The information presented below is cited from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopaedia, The Poe Studies Association (PSA) and PoeStories. com An exploration of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. pic Figure 2 Family Tree of Edgar Allen Poe. (Wikipedia, 2010) Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusette on Jan 19, 1809. He was the second child of participant and actress, David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. His elder brother, William Henry Leonard Poe (January 30, 1807 revered 1, 1831) was a sailor, clerk and also an amateurish poet. David and Elizabeths daughter Rosalie was born in December 1810.Edgar may have been named afterwardward on a character in William Shakespeares King Lear, a play that the couple was performing in 1809(Nelson, Randy F, 1981). When he was three classs old, David Poe left the family and left his wife and his children in 1810. A year later, his wife died from consumption. Edgar was taken care of by washbasin Allan, successful Scottish merchant in Richmond, Virgnia who involve in variety of goods including tobacco, cloth, wheat, tombstone and slaves. The Allans serve as a foster family gave him the name Edgar Allan Poe and baptized him in 1812. John Allan alternately spoiled and sharp disciplined his foster son. In 1815, the Allans sailed to Engla nd and while they lived in England, Poe and his stepfather began to argue fiercely and frequently.Poe was sent to grammar school in Irvine, Scotland, where John Allan was born. He attended the school just for a short period of time and in 1816, he returned and joined the family in London. Mrs. Allan died, John remarried, and he and Poe became even push estranged. In 1826, Poe attended University of Virginia, but he was expelled later that year. He attended West foreland for a short time while there, he accumulated some gambling debts. John Allan, who was frustrated with Poes deportment and attitude, would not help him to pay his debts and Poe had to leave-taking the Academy. He went to Boston in 1827 and, finding that he could not support himself, he enlisted in the United States Army under the name Edgar A. Perry.After two years, he was released and travel to Baltimore, Maryland, where his maternal relatives lived. During this period, newspapers and literary magazines began t o be published Poes work. Tamerlaine and other Poems appeared in 1827 and Al Aaraaf in 1829. His Manuscript Found in a Bottle won a literary contest in 1833. tercet years later, however, his heart would change drastically. In May of 1836, he married his 14-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, who convinced Poe to settle in Philadelphia, where he obtained incessant employment as an editor. In 1844, Poe moved to New York City, taking a joke as editor for another literary magazine, The Evening Mirror.His most famous and common poem, The Raven, was published in this magazine through this one poem, Poe finally achieved his well-deserved reputation as a great writer. In January of 1847, however, after a long illness, Virginia died of tuberculosis. Poes grief, combined with the stress ca utilise by years of caring for his shut-in wife, caused him to collapse emotionally after her end it is believed that this loss accelerated his drinking problem. however two years later, in 1849, he moved back to Richmond and be after to wed Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton, a woman Poe had been intermeshed to marry earlier in life. (John Allan had oblige Poe to abandon any thoughts of marrying her because of lack of money. ) Poe and Shelton, both now having lost a spouse, renew their relationship.They would, however, not marry due to Poes untimely death, the circumstances of which remain a mystery, even today. He had left Richmond for Baltimore on September 27, 1849, and was found unconscious in a gutter there on October 3rd. Poe had collected approximately $1,500 for subscriptions to his literary magazine, The Stylus, but no money was found with him, lede to the speculation that he might have been robbed. He was taken to a infirmary where he regained consciousness a fewer times, but Poe was never coherent equal to explain what had happened to him. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849. pic Figure 3 Signature of Edgar Allan Poe (Wikipedia, 2010) The Black roam The Black Cat is one of Edgar Allan Poes most unforgettable stories. The tale centers around a dismal cat and the subsequent deterioration of a man (Lombardi,E. , 2010). The story is about a man, who declaring that he will die tomorrow, describes himself as a caring and loving man, who from the soonest days of his youth was mocked by others for his fright and concern forall livingthings (http//www. bookrags. com/notes/poe/PART1. htm). establish on literary analysis conducted by Cromwell, J. , (2010), the fibber (who is also chief character and author) remains unnamed, but for a purpose. Without a name he represents every man, or rather, every mans potential.In the opening of his story, the character describes himself as amenable and tender natured with a fondness for animals, describing the warmness of his pets as unselfish and self-sacrificing respect. Cromwell states that the main character faces the relationships of humans, however, with a cynical clip tone, the paltry friendly relationship and gossamer faithfulness of mere Man. (The Black Cat, line 12). He also stresses that the desires and feeling held in take in by unwritten social law are cut loose by habitual drinking leading to verbal and physical abuse of the mans animals and wife. The mans desire was power over his animals, his wife, and their affections toward him. For full text, kindly refer to Appendix A) ANALYSING THE BLACK CAT In analysing The Black Cat, I have used Labovs Narrative Structure as my theoretical framework for the analysis. To be brief, for this section, I will explain on how I have analyse the short story based on labovs theory of narrative and followed by the raillery on the findings of the analysis. My focus of discussion is on the elements that show highest percentage in which have constructed and contributed to the great horror effect of Edgars short story. As briefly discussed earlier, Labovs Narrative Structure comprises of six categories in which they serve to structure the narratives.Each sentence in the short story was condition a number to ease the process of categorising the sentences into abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution and coda (u may refer to Appendix A). A close reading was conducted and it took quite some time for the pass completion of the analysis. The finding of the analysis of The Black Cat is presented through the bar chart below. pic Figure 4 The Analysis of The Black Cat based on the elements of Labovs Narrative Structure The bar chart in figure 1 shows the representation of each element of Labovs Narrative Structure based on the frequency count of sentences in the short story, The Black Cat.The structure of each sentence represents certain functions as bring outed in Labovs Narrative Structure. As discussed earlier, Labovs Narrative Structure consists of six elements which are abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution and coda. Throughout the analysis, the major findin g is the elements of orientation and evaluation present in the short story, as indicated above, show the highest number of sentences. These two elements play major roles in constructing the horror sentiment in the short story. Edgar used these two elements comprehensively and most of the time, they were embedded together to show certain degree of emotional state of the character.Obviously, the setting, symbolism, maculation, word choice, and character development contributed greatly to the effect of shocking insanity in Edgar Allan Poes masterpiece, The Black Cat. Poes effective use of all of these elements, the least of these being setting and the greatest of these being character development, creates a shocking tale, which leaves the mind to mull in all its horror (www. 123helpme. com, 2010). In the short story, Orientation is widely used where Edgar has been descriptive concerning the emotional state and degree of value of the narrator, the situation or places that took place and also detailed elaboration on the crime scene, description on the characters attitude and world view. Examples of sentences that portray this element are shown below SENTENCE NUMBER text 8 From my infancy I was noted for the docility and munificence of my disposition 79 Pluto had not a white hair upon any dispense of his body but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering about the whole region of the breast. 109 The cat followed me down to the steep stairs and nearly throwing me headlong, aggravate me to madness. TABLE 2 Orientation From the sentences listed above, it is explicit that Edgar pays critical attention in describing the mental and emotional state of the main character, which is the narrator.In fact, for almost every sentence in the short story consists of orientation element which functions to create the atmosphere of horror. He begins the story with a clear picture of him being tortured and this had destroyed his life. The or ientation can refer to a past event with an adverb of time in which will mark off the narrative from the previous talk, as an initiating mechanism (Cortazzi,M. ,1993). He also makes an guilt little confession of his crime due to his runny mental and emotional state through abusing his wife and pets, I suffered myself to use labored language to my wife. , I even offered her personal violence and even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.These sentences have given direct tinges to the reader as he has initially stated how his life has been ruined and destroyed. In elaborating the character of the somber cat, in which the narrator claimed to be to be the causal to his failure in life, Edgar has selected certain adjectives and connotations that most suitable and deep impact words to retain the feeling of horror throughout the story. The words like, frightful mien, .. a brutal zoology, .. my aversion of the beast.. , .. the terror and horror with which the an imal has stimulate me.. , and in fact, the word black associated with the cat, is sufficient enough to promote the condemnable disembodied spirit derived from the cat.The repetition of evil and dark connotations leaves the reader with the feeling terrified and suspend and it shows terror and horrified as the core atmosphere of the scenes. Towards the end, Edgar was being descriptive and he used orientation element majorly to describe the cold-blooded conduct of the narrator and provoke the readers with horror and unpredictable crime scene and each complicating action. The role of orientation is vital in this short story to design attention atmosphere and dreadfulness. SENTENCE NUMBER text 98 I am almost mortified to own-yes, even in this felons cell.I am almost mortified to own-that the terror and horror with which the animal stir me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras, it would be realizable to conceive. 2 Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a chance where my very senses reject their own evidence. 12 thither is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. TABLE 3 Examples of Evaluation Category Evalution is the most interesting and complex category. In the story, this element is associated with the narrators bias point of judgement and value. The narrators personal involvement is a story is conveyed where he states that In their consequences, these events have terrified-have tortured-have destroyed me. in so far I will not test to expound them. To me, they have presented little but horror- to many they will seem less terrible than baroques. (The Black Cat, line 6 and 7) At one point, the narrator makes use of his personal involvement sentiment in the story as a way to gain sympathy and also as escapism of his brutal crime.According to his evaluative statement, the blame to all sins and the prime clear up are the black cat and the evil spirit that had caused him to conduct such pitiless crimes. As he puts his words I seized him when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon forthwith possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My maestro soul seemed, at once, to take its charge from my body and a more than unhallowed malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socketI blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the woeful atrocity. (The Black Cat, line 31-35) And a brute beast whose fellow I had disdainfully destroyed a brute beast to work out for me for me a man, forge in the image of the High paragon so much of insufferable wo unfortunately neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of abatement any more (The Bla ck Cat, line 103) Evil thoughts became my sole intimates the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to execration of all things and of all mankind while, from the sudden, frequent, and obstinate outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, unluckily as the most usual and the most patient of sufferers. (The Black Cat, line 106 and 107) The Evaluation commonly precedes the Result. It delays the forward movement of the narrative clauses, which hold the listener suspended at that point in time (Cortazzi,M. , 1993). Other evidence such as below It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared it was now, I say, the image of a awful of a ghastly thing of the GALLOWS oh, wretched and terrible engine of Horror and of curse of Agony and of Death (The Black Cat, line 101)The Black Cat is not structured in isolation according to Labovs Narrative Structure. These categories are actually embedded within sentences in order to derive horror and existence of evil elements in the short story. Edgar was being descriptive and at the same time evaluative from sequence to anther sequence in the story in which they support the design of each complicating action. outcome Analysing The Black Cat using Labovs Narrative Structure is my first campaign to show relations of formal narrative forms and the functions that they portray in the narrative to highlight intended criteria or to bring the certain feeling to real as the readers further reading the narratives.Poe had critically made perfect selection of adjectives, adverbials and free clauses to bring the motive of terror and horror in the narrative. Furthermore, Poes plot development added much of the effect of shocking insanity to The Black Cat. To romance up such an intricate plot of perverseness, alcoholism, murders, f ire, revival, and punishment is quite amazing. (www. 123helpme. com, 2010). The use of Orientation and Evaluation elements in his gothic story, has successfully promoted the feeling of fear and terrified. Poe had been descriptive in elaborating the physical and emotional state of the characters presented in particular through the bias and unreliable narrator in the narrative. The evaluation made by the narrator from the eyes of an evil bouncing murderer.Labovs model of narrative analysis seems to be very useful in my analysis to show the interconnectedness of the formal structure of the narrative and the sociological functions in the short story, The Black Cat. Through this method, I manage to point out the linguistic features exist in The Black Cat in which beneficial for building up the narrative and sustaining the interest and mood of the readers. This technique would be very useful to be implemented in language classroom to promote the attitude of appreciating literature. Besi des that the learning process will be more interactive and alive when both teachers and students critically engaged. The motivation to learn and to participate in the class may be true among students when they see the relevance of the learning veridical since it reflects their daily lives. &8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212