Briefly describe the main characters of the story.

The main character of the story is the
unnamed narrator. He says that he was known for being kind and that he truly loved animals.
However, his alcoholism made him cruel and abusive toward his wife and his pet. They lived a
life of plenty before the fire in a nice home with a servant. The fire made their fortunes turn
and they lose everything they own. He murders his pet cat, Pluto, and then he murders his wife
and entombs her in the basement.

The police who come to his house hear the
cries of the cat trapped behind the wall with the narrator's dead wife. They arrest him and he
is sentenced to death.

While the narrator is really the only main character,
Pluto is an important secondary character. He's the beloved cat of the narrator who the man
kills in a rage after he's already cut out Pluto's eye in another fit. The second black cat he
adopts is never enough like Pluto for him; this also drives the narrator into a rage.