Blog 6, Due May 2

Blog Topics, Week of April 26

Question 1: Using the concept of repression and the “return of the repressed”, explain the events in “The Tell-Tale Heart” (you should be talking about the narrator’s choices and actions)

Question 2: Do a bit of research on Edgar Allen Poe and explain how his personal life may have influenced his choice of narrator and events in “The Tell-Tale Heart” OR “The Cask of Amontillado”. Remember that you are looking at the author’s subconscious motives and desires, ones that have been “repressed” by the author but are unleashed in the literary text. If you choose this question, you need to cite your source. Magill Literature Online and/or The Literature Resource Center, electronic databases (available via in link on our library site) are really good choices for this as the information is guaranteed credible.

Question 3: Interpret this course of action in “Amontillado} using both Freud’s model of the psyche (id/ego/superego) AND various methods of repression and “the return of the repressed”. You should analyze at least three of these moments. Note that the excerpts are listed in order of their occurrence; make sure you trace the psychological process in order (as in, “first he did this, and this means a, and then he does that, and that means b, etc.).

“The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones” (1204).

“I again paused, and holding the flamebeaux over the masonwork, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within” (1204).

“For a brief moment I hesitated – I trembled” (1204).

“My heart grew sick – on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end to my labor” (1205)

Question 4: Choose one of the articles on Poe and his work that are posted in “Lectures” and respond accordingly: briefly summarize the article (use at least a few quotes in your answer), then explain whether the information you discover in your reading conforms to your interpretation of one of the stories or conflicts with it. You might also use one of these articles in any of the answers if you wish.