As with many great writers, Edgar Allen Poe’s writing style in many ways reflected his often traumatic personal life. Following the death at age three of his parents, who were touring actors, Edgar Allen Poe was placed with a foster family, who baptized him with his new name, erasing all traces of his prior life. His new parents were often extremely harsh and dictatorial. His foster father died, and the second experience of loss and abandonment were extremely traumatic for the young Poe. The negative influence of men in Poe’s life lead to the exclusive use of men as the villains in his stories, and as agents of cruelty or abandonment. Reflections of these biographical themes can be found throughout Poe’s work. He is himself embodied in victims of male cruelty in many of his works, such as the abused cat in Black Cat. His difficulties with death and personal tragedy- such as the death of almost every female figure in Poe’s life, are reflected in a preoccupation with death and themes of mortality.