Short Fiction · Chapter
The White Cat of Drumgunniol explained
The narrator recounts a story told by his Irish tutor, Dan Donovan, about a sinister white cat that appears to members of the Donovan family as an omen of death.
What happens
The narrator recounts a story told by his Irish tutor, Dan Donovan, about a sinister white cat that appears to members of the Donovan family as an omen of death. The tale includes a spectral woman walking across water, a granduncle haunted by a ghostly blow from a dead woman, and the white cat's repeated appearances before family deaths, culminating in a wake where the corpse seems to move.
Themes in this chapter
Supernatural and the Uncanny
The white cat appears as a death omen, and a spectral woman walks across water, embodying the uncanny.
Folklore and Local Tradition
The story is rooted in Irish folklore, with the white cat acting like a banshee and the wake customs described in detail.
Guilt and Retribution
Con Donovan's secret guilt over Ellen Coleman leads to his haunting and death, suggesting retribution.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Purcell
The narrator who studies Irish records and is told the story by Dan Donovan.
- Con Donovan
The granduncle who sees the white cat and is struck by a spectral hand, leading to his death.
- Aunt Margaret
Aunt Peg who sees the white cat after a wake and dies a month later.
- Jim Sulivan
Little brother Jim who sees the white cat three weeks before his death.
- Moll Rial
Molly, the woman who screams at the wake, claiming the corpse's face and arm moved.
- Mrs. Molloy
Old Sal Doolan, a woman who leads the group to investigate the corpse with a candle.
Key passages
“I saw a woman appear at the corner of the orchard and walk down the slope. She wore a long, light grey dress, so long that it seemed to sweep the grass behind her... Her course lay diagonally from corner to corner of the field... she pursued it without swerving.”
The narrator sees a woman in a long grey dress walking across the field without deviating from her path.
This is the first appearance of the spectral woman, setting up the supernatural theme.
“The white cat was walking close round his feet, in the twilight, with an angry twist of its tail, and a green glare in its eyes, and do what he would, it continued walking round and round him... till he reached the orchard, and there he lost it.”
The white cat circles Uncle Teigue menacingly at twilight before disappearing at the orchard.
The cat's behavior as a death omen is established here.
“They saw distinctly the marks of five fingerpoints on the flesh of his shoulder, where the spectral blow had fallen. These singular marks... remained imprinted on his flesh, and were buried with him.”
Five finger marks from the ghostly blow remain on Con Donovan's shoulder until his burial.
Physical evidence of the supernatural encounter underscores the story's reality.
“May I never sin, if his face bain't riz up again the back o' the bed, and he starin' down to the doore, wid eyes as big as pewter plates, that id be shinin' in the moon!”
Molly exclaims that the corpse's face has risen and is staring with huge, shining eyes.
The wake scene adds a grotesque element to the death omen narrative.