In each story, the narrators both commit violent crimes. The narrators' hatred leads them to a strong desire to eliminate the object of their hatred. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator mentions that he plans to kill the old man because of his eye. He also claims that he "was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before" he "killed him" (3). This implies that he does have compassion for the old man, but it leads the reader to believe that the narrator thinks of the old man's eye as being apart from the man.

In "The Black Cat", the narrator chooses to add small parts of his story to the plot of his murder. This includes the animal cruelty toward his cat, Pluto. This certain animal is causing the conflict. The narrator remarks that "it was now the representation of an object that" he...