Final Blog

Out of all of the texts that we’ve read over the course of this semester, I have a few favorites: “Everyday Use,” “Commitments,” and “A Chinese Banquet.” I feel that I could definitely use a better understanding of Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy.” I found that poem intriguing, yet confusing! I would consider reading that one again simply to attempt to gain a deeper understanding of it. It seems to encompass so many different aspects of the not only the relationship she had with her father, but also with Germany, and of, the struggles she has dealt with since his death. I think this poem would be a good subject for a live classroom discussion because of its complexities. I could see how various people would potentially take away many different interpretations of it, and it would be interesting to see that play out in a classroom setting.

Final Blog

This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you’ve read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again?

During this semester we had a lot of stories and most I liked but there were some that stood out the most. My favorite the whole semester was A Doll House. I dreaded reading it because it was so long, but now, I'm glad I read it. I really liked the struggle of the woman in the story, trying to save her family and Husband and then like the jerk he is, gets angry for her doing what she had to save her family. But she shows her strength by leaving and standing on her own two feet. I didn't like the fact that she abandonded her kids, but it just shows another form of her new found strength and power.
I also liked The Thing They Carried. It was well written and had great symbolism in a dismal, harsh setting. It just goes to show, love can bring you up in situation but in other situations it can bring you down and weigh on you. There's a time and place for everything.
I would like a deeper understanding of Where are you going, Where have you been? I remember reading it and my friend was sitting in the room with me. She was entertained by my reactions through out the whole story. I think I scared her when I yelled, "What?" The ending was very confusing for me. I tried looking up analysis' by other people on the story and they assumed that Arnold Friend was symbolic for the pop culture and music industry she was into. But me, I still look at it and question, was it really a man that invaded her home or was it all in her head, a dream, or personal struggle. Still confused...
I would definately read A Doll House again. It was a very good story about the lengths a woman would go to save her husband and the ungratefulness of his rescue. It really irritates me when a man is unappreciative of what a woman does for him. It makes me angry when women are taken advantage of and told, "No, you can't do that. You belong in the home." It irritates me to no end. I'm a girl who has dreams and aspirations to make something of myself, not be trapped as a housewife. I'm a worker and the idea of a man trapping his wife into the home, not teaching her, not respecting her and what she goes through to save her family, blaming her for ruining him because of his own selfishness just irritates me to the bone. I loved the part when she left him dumbfounded and walked out of his house never to return. I wopuld love to see this play in person. I think it would be great.

Final Blog

After looking back at all the literature we covered over the semester I would say I had two favorite poems; "Wild Nights-Wild Nights” and “Let me not to the marriage of true minds.” I had two favorite short stories; The Things They Carried and Everyday Use. There is one text that sticks out in my mind that I feel I could use a deeper understanding. “A Good Mind is Hard to Find”, had a lot of elements that I missed the first time I read it. The ending was grotesque and completely caught me off guard. I’m sure I missed the point that the author was trying to make. I really enjoy poetry so I would consider reading all the poetry again that we covered over the semester.

Final Blog

During the course I have read many interesting pieces of literature that I enjoyed. I thought the readings assigned were very good for getting involved to express our opinions as a class. It's good to read literature, and analyze it by using various types of literary analysis. During the course reading passages, and using the different forms of analysis really helped me understand the story from a deeper perspective. If I had to pick some favorites I would have to say Tim O Brain, "The Things They Carried," was a very emotional passage for me to read. Its funny how you can connect to a story, and relate it to real life scenarios. I thought it was very vivid, and explained everything in perfect detail to get perfect visual images. It is always interesting to read about war stories. It gives us a better understanding of how it really is while at war, and makes us appreciate the world that we live in, and not take advantage of the small things in life that matter the most. It brought so much emotion in me while reading it because these men and women are fighting for our freedom, and the only thing they have are the small things to cherish, and hold onto during the process that can potential kill them like the few men that died in the story. This is one of the short stories I really enjoyed, and would definitely read again. We were not assigned the Poem "Do Not Go Gentle into that That Good Night," but I read it and really enjoyed it. I think its pretty popular, but it has so much meaning behind it. I think its a very encouraging poem. Its about death and dying, but when examined closer, it becomes apparent that it is also about life and how it is lived. I think many people can appreciate this poem, and be able to connect with it some way.I didn't know the meaning at first until I picked it apart by using New Criticism. By doing so it gave me a deeper understanding of the terms. I also really enjoyed the play "A Doll House," this was a very drama filled story that could be misunderstood in many ways. I would love to see the play it would probably be very good. It really got my mind thinking many different thoughts. This was a great piece of literature that I think many people should at least read once. I had to read it twice to gain the full knowledge I needed to understand it. If I had to read all of these over again I would. I read a few poems that I didn't like, but the majority of the short stories I loved, and plays. I think literature brings out so many different feelings, and its great to express how you feel, and relate it to others and see their views.

Final Blog

There is a few favorite stories that I read this semester that I would not mind reading again.
I remember reading "The things they carried" and finding so many meanings to it. To me it was odd, because usually I don't do that, I'm not the type to think out side the box and figure out the meanings, but for this story it was so easy.

Also the poem "A Chinese banquet" was also a memorable piece. It was interesting to read about a gay couple and how their families do not accept them. I've always wondered what they have to go through with their families, and this poem gave me one scenario of what they go through.

And lastly, "A Good man is Hard to Find" was also a favorite story to read. Its a favorite because of the unexpected ending. I was shocked when the misfit ends up killing everyone, I really thought he was going to end up being that "good man" that is hard to find.

These are just my top 3 favorite literature that we read this semester, there was others that I liked as well but I was able to connect with some of these or their are my favorite because it was entertaining for me to read.

Final Blog

I would have to say that my favorite stories and pieces we read were Oleanna and The Doll House because they seem to push the envelope for the times they were written in. They were both shocking and eye opening in some sense, revealing that matters are clearly not black and white, good or bad, sometimes there are murky gray areas people must understand are part of life. For example, the mantra in Oleanna is, in a nutshell, no matter which side you pick, you're wrong. Whether one sides with the student or the teacher, both are riddled with wrong actions at times. In the end, it requires a deep analysis and validation to really prove support for one side or the other. That is the amazing thing about literature.

With respect to The Doll House, the question hinges on Nora Helmer and whether she is a true feminist figure or not. Arguments can really be compelling for both sides, but the story is captivating. Deceit, can be very ugly, and this is the theme I picked up through this read. In the end, it was very interesting to read these two stories and analyze them from so many different critical lenses.

Final Thoughts

Hands down my favorite reading in this class was Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried. I had read the book several years ago, and just love the way he writes. I recommend anyone else that liked the short story to go out and get the book, you won’t be disappointed.

Another thing that struck me is how much I liked Edgar Allan Poe, both of the readings for this class I had read in high school, which was too long ago to want to admit, but I never ‘pondered weak and weary, about how dark and dreary he was.’ I not only would read The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart again, but ordered a collection of Poe’s work just the other day, in order to read more.

As far as things I could use a deeper understanding of, or just plain didn’t like, was most of the assigned poetry, I just don’t get enough pleasure out of it in exchange for all of the work required to decipher it. Call me unrefined, but where poetry is concerned, I will stick to Shel Silverstien and dirty limericks.

The other reading that I found disturbing was Flannery O’Conner’s; A Good Man is Hard to Find. It isn’t that I didn’t understand it, and I found her story telling to be quite captivating, but I was completely upended by the cruelty of it. I know that this kind of cruelty exists in life, but I would like to avoid it in literature. That said, it was great for a class like this, because it requires a reaction, which I would say is true of most of the assigned readings for this class. Nothing allowed you to passively read a story, everything invoked an opinion, such as in A Good Man is Hard to Find or the Tell-Tale Heart, or to pick a side, like in Everyday Use or Oleanna.

Last Blog

This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you’ve read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again? Discuss

There were many pieces that we were assigned this semestor that I enjoyed. The one piece of literature that really stood out to me was the short story The Things They Carried. I really enjoyed reading the entire piece. It kept me entertained all the way until the end. I am a big fan of war stories, and this one fulfilled all aspects of a good story. There were some poems here and there that I enjoyed, such as Legal Alien which portrays the struggle that immigrants have in the U.S. All together there were many enjoyable texts and pieces that I would read again. For an English course these pieces correlated very well with what we were learning, and I enjoyed most of the pieces we read.

LAST BLOG!

This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you’ve read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again? Discuss

In my own opinion, this class was by far the best English class I have had in that the literature the assigned was always very intriguing and it allowed for the class to discuss it in a matter that was not structured. The blogs allowed for me to express my opinions on material that, it seemed that, everyone had something to say. I don’t believe there was one individual who did not want to voice their opinions about the assigned readings.
I believe that my favorite, by far, was Oleanna! Although it took for me to rent the movie (the play was verbatim) because I just could not visualize the meaning of the interactions between John and Carol. But once I understood the characters and had a full on discussion with my husband about it, I felt I was right there in the story. At first I wanted to defend Carol, but as the play ends my merciful emotions went to John and I wanted give Carol a piece of my mind. It was actions like the ones she took that make it impossible for women to be taken serious in a matter such as what happened between her and John. I believe a good piece of literature should stir up the emotions inside the reader or observer because then it shows that there is some personal meaning behind it. I believe that when a reader can identify on a personal level with the characters, the story and the meaning behind become that much more intriguing. Another one of my favorites was the play by Henrik Ibsen “A Doll House.” I found this one to be intriguing on a personal level. Although there were some major differences in how I handled the similar situation, I still found that I identified with Nora. Reading this play in a time when women have endlessly fought to be viewed as a human being just as important as a man and believing females have come quite far, did I realized that the battle will never end. There were will always be those who do not feel females are capable of pursuing a life outside the kitchen but as long as everyone remembers that our world needs both males and females to survive I believe the struggle will diminish.
There were a few poems I had a hard time trying to imagine and decipher but there was only one story that I just could not grasp the intensity of – “Killings,” by Andre Dubus. I found it hard to follow and visualize just what was going on. Maybe this was one of those stories I needed to see instead of read and possibly the visualization would have helped me to better understand the story. The poems I had a hard time with as well, were: “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds,” “Somewhere I have never traveled,” and “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” These were poems I just could not understand and I feel that it was that I could not identify them on a personal level or on any level for that matter. I would have liked to have read more on others opinions or view of these and maybe then I would have seen the meaning or significance behind them.
To My Classmates: Thank you for doing your part in making this class enjoyable and interesting. Your thoughts and opinions were, in my mind, not underestimated. Your responses to the questions and to my comments were thoughtfully respected and I thank you for voicing them! Good luck in your future! Kind Regards, Your Classmate, Stephanie Lamkin

Last Blog

This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you've read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again?
Discuss.

Blog 6

Question #1
There were many parts in “The Tell-Tale Heart” that lends itself well to the concept of repression. In the opening lines, the narrator is talking about how he is not crazy, when clearly he is. He believes that whatever is going on with him is making him better, more aware, and that this is a good thing.
In the lecture on psychoanalytic criticism, it talks about “the ego being split between urges and repression so that one part of the mind indulges while the other retains a strict sense of rectitude.” This is where I see the clearest signs of repression in the story. First when the narrator is talking about the week before the attack, and his being really nice to the old man while he is at the same time planning his attack. I also saw repression in the way he drew things out, every night exhibiting control with his entering of the room at night, inch by inch, in total darkness, spending hours in this process. He could have just gone in and killed the man at any other time; it was clearly just the two of them in the house. He was repressing that urge to kill him every night, while at the same time cultivating it.
He also used rationalization in his reason for wanting the man dead, granted they were the rationalizations of a mad man, because no reasonable person could convince themselves that a hawk eye warrants murder.

Question #4
In Richard Benton’s critique on “The Cask of Amontillado” he uses historical research and analysis to help give more meaning to the story. He pinpoints when in history this story would have likely taken place, based on the bones in the catacombs, the sword that Montresor carried, and his style of dress. Benton explains that this murder may have taken place the way it did because Montresor had no other way to respond against whatever insult he believed Fortunato committed against him. “The honor of an aristocrat could not be satisfied in the performance of a duel, however, unless the impugner was a social equal.” Fortunato was a man of power, “since Fortunato has power, Montresor resorts to murder.”
Benton then goes on to talk about the method of the murder, the word play used between the two men as duel in itself. Then he offers a variety of explanations of who Montresor might be recounting the story to, believing “the listener seems to be a woman, for clever women are good listeners to men’s words.”
The information in this critique definitely follows with my opinion of what was happening in the story, and the historical context helped with putting things in perspective. When I read the story, I kept thinking that Fortunato had to know something was coming, but his pride would not have let him back down. When Benton talks about the “duel of words”, that sat very well with my interpretation. It was as if the same pride that was driving Montresor to commit the murder, also kept Fortunato from fleeing it.
I don’t know if I agree with Benton that the story was being told to a woman, I can see the possibility. I always (having read this years ago, as well) saw the listener as a being a son or grandson. He told the story with pride, as though he was passing down a piece of family history, as his contribution in upholding the family name.

Blog #6

Question 1:

In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe seems to use his writings to unleash his repressed feelings of darkness and death. Poe has experienced a large amount of death throughout his life with his family and loved ones, so he was probably angry for losing everyone that he cared for and being able to write about death and killing innocent people was his way to release his anger. In the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” the character feels that he must get rid of an evil eye, which belongs to an apparently blind old man. When the character ends up killing the old man he instantly feels relief, but after a while he begins to feel guilty and tells on himself, suggesting that even though he felt temporarily relieved from his actions, the secret that he was trying to hold made him feel worse, and it felt better for him to just tell on himself.

Question 2:

After doing some research on Edgar Allan Poe, I definitely think that his personal life influenced his writings, as well as the events in both “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
Edgar Allan Poe was born to Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe Jr. David Poe Jr. was supposed to inherit money from his wealthy father, David Poe Sr. but because David Jr. decided to pursue a career in acting with his wife, Elizabeth, his father abandoned David, because he preferred that David Jr. become a lawyer instead. David Poe Jr. did not have any acting skills and was not a very good actor so it was hard for him to find work and he became very depressed and turned to alcohol. After a while David Poe Jr. abandoned his wife and three children when Edgar Allen Poe was just an infant. Elizabeth, Edgar’s mother took any role that she could get on stage, but died a few months after Davis Jr. left from tuberculosis. According to reports on the death of Edgar’s mother, all three of her children were found laying next to her dead body. The living conditions of the family were very poor; they lived in a very cold and drafty boarding room, and slept on a pile of straw on the floor.
All three of the children were separated and sent to live in different locations. Thereafter, practically everyone that Edgar grew to be fond of died from tuberculosis, including the wife of a Richmond importer that took him in as a child. Edgar married his 13 year old cousin Virginia, but she became very ill with tuberculosis, causing her to hemorrhage, and Poe became deeply depressed because of her condition. Virginia began to waste away, losing lots of weight at the age of sixteen. When Virginia was 20 years old she was sitting at a piano singing and trying to entertain her husband when a vein in her neck burst causing blood to pour from her mouth, she died ten days later. Poe was distraught and died several years later from his addiction to alcohol and opiates.
I think that Poe’s experiences with his loved ones and witnessing such violent deaths has to do with his dark writings. A lot of his experiences seems to be scenes from horror movies. As I read through Poe’s biography, it seemed that he had more bad life experiences than good ones, which explains why he writes about killing people and death in both stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.

Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: a Literary Reference to His Life and WorkFacts on File Library of American Literature
by Sova, Dawn B.Publication: New York Facts on File, Inc., 2007.

Blog 6

Question 2:

Poe’s father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died shortly after from consumption. He was then taken into the home of John Allen who served him as a foster family and gave him the name Edgar Allen Poe, though they never formally adopted them. When he got older, in an effort to support himself, he enlisted in the US military, lying about his age and his name. In 1830 he married his second wife, Louis Patterson. In Baltimore in 1835, he secretly married Virginia Clemm, his 13 year old cousin. Two years after he published, The Raven, his wife died from tuberculosis. During her illness, he began to drink more from the stress of it all. Critics often believe the constant theme of death of beautiful women in his poetry and works of writing are because of the many women he lost in his life time. He was very unstable after his wife’s death and attempted to court Sarah Helen Whitman. Their engagement failed due to his heavy drinking and behavior (Wikipedia).
His life was pretty down in the dumps. Of course he would be depressed and angry about all the things that happened in his life. I believe all that pent up anger caused him to write such great and famous works. Instead of acting upon his feelings, he used them to write, channeling all of his negative energy on the page instead of someone else. It’s actually brilliant really. Because in a story you can become anything you want, design a character and live vicariously through them, almost as if you’re living with an alter ego. Fascinating really.

Question 4:

I chose the Critical Article The tell Tale Heart and in this article, the author tries to explain every aspect as to why the narrator used the language he used and why he committed the murder. The author talks about the sexual language he uses in the poem, to which I agree there were some parts that I questioned what Poe was trying to get across. He uses words like, Ejaculation and I thrust in my head and with the action of watching the old man while he slept and the fact that the whole setting was in the bedroom. I agree with what the narrator is talking about her. Poe even goes as far to admit that he loves the old man. I’ve read some other people’s blogs and some did not agree with the opinion of use of sexual tones used in the poem, but when I read this poem, I questioned why he would use descriptions rather than something else. Maybe it wasn’t the eye that caused this man’s death. The eye could have been an excuse. Maybe, the main character feared his love for this man since in the time period Poe wrote this, it wasn’t common for men to love men. So, in order to stop the love for him, he kills them and when the man is gone, his love for the man continues on and he can’t forgive what he had done to the man and won’t allow himself to get away with the murder.

Blog # 6 Questions 2-4

Question 2: Edgar Allan Poe's father ran away, and his mother died before he was three years old. His foster father never accepted him. He fell in love in college, but the girl's family stopped the engagement, because they knew he wouldn't get foster father fortune. He was at war, and got kicked out for disobedience of orders. He then went to live with his aunt and married her daughter Virginia who was only 13. Virginia died of consumption, and after her death his life fell apart. He suffered through a suicide attempt, several failed romances, and a long battle with alcoholism and depression. He was the father of modern mystery, and a worldwide influence on Literature. He was best known for poems and short fiction. He eventually was found unconscious on a Baltimore street. Poe died at age 40 in October they say from "Congestion of the brain".
Obviously, Poe led a miserable life. The constant encounters with death he suffered contributed to the types of writings, and poems he wrote. His life was shrouded with gloominess, and all of his life's misfortunes can be mirrored in his writings. He seemed to be a sad, miserable man, and his poems and writings all had a sad, miserable tone. It is clear that the melancholy that held dominion over his life, was manifested into the forms of poetry and stories. I think his influence to writing "The Tell Tale Heart," has to do with Virginia's sickness and her slow death. I think his passages are full of death, and darkness. Poe used many of the real life tragedies he experienced as inspiration for his Gothic style writing. Poe used literary devices such as point of view, and symbolism to give it a more dramatic effect, and to add to the madness the narrator portrays. I think he wrote this passage, because he likes to write things that evokes emotions.

Question 4: The article "The Tell-Tale Heart," is about a narrator who claims that he is not mad, but his behavior tells a different story. He wants to destroy another male, not out of jealousy or animosity, but because "one of his eyes resembled that of a vultures". He sees the eye as a threat to his well being, but it is he who is a menace to his own being. He kills the man with pride, only to concede to his horrific crime due to his guilt-ridden heart. The quote "And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in!" This particular quote talks about sexual reference which has no connection in my opinion to this passage. Then the article continues to say the narrator exists as a bipolar individual. I think bipolar is an act without intent, and uncontrollable. The narrator actually thought this out before he killed the man. Another quote says "Coupling of love and hate forms the basis for sad omasochism". I think this is a distorted quote its very vivid. The reading of this article does not really conform in some parts such as the quotes I listed above. The story is very strange, and corrupt. I Think he intentionally killed the man, and enjoyed it because it says he feels joy inside.

Blog 6

Question 2:
Edgar Allen Poe lived a life filled with obsticles. Some of his few struggles he dealt with were in his toddler years, his mother died and his father left him leaving him as an orphan. He was then adopted by a family, John and Frances Allen, but never really felt accepted, he knew and felt he was adopted. All of these experiences made his have a different lifestyle, he never experiences true family love or relationships which made him find these emotions in other places.

His lifestyle contributed in his dark tone in a "Tell Tale-Heart." This poem had a lot of death incorporated and instead of making Poe feel uncomfortable or afraid it made him feel comfortable since he grew up dealing with death of close ones in his life.

Question 4:
After reading the critical article on Tell Tale-Heart I noticed my opinion I had on the poem had changed. There was somethings I agreed with in this article and some things that I disagreed with, for example it was discussed that they believe that the narrator of the poem is bipolar and I agree, being bipolar you have no control over your emotions and how you express them and I believe that that was the case in this poem. However I dont agree with the sexual reference to the poem. "Oh, you would have laughed how cunningly I thrust it in." The author tried to tie it in together as this being sexual but I dont think it necessarly has a sexual meaning.

Blog #6 Questions 1 & 2

Question 1:
In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allen Poe uses the concept of repression and is widely known to be his most eccentric and psychologically captivating. Repression is defined as the forgetting, or ejection from consciousness of memories of threat, and especially the ejection from awareness of impulses in oneself that might have objectionable consequences. Poe clearly accomplishes that, with a first person story that shows his own preoccupation with death, sanity, and his trouble with human relationships. The events of the story are centered on the murder of an old man, who is never named or thoroughly described except for “one of his eyes resembled that of a vulture, a pale blue eye with film over it”. It was this one eye that was the motivation for the murder of the old man by the narrator, since “whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees-very gradually-I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever”. From the opening line, the narrator is pleading his case that he is not mad, and begs the reader to not think of him as such, yet all of the actions separated by dashes indicate the contrary. He goes on to brag about his ability to enter the house for seven straight days at midnight without the old man knowing he is, only to find the eyes of the old man closed and thus the need to kill is gone. However, on the eighth day the narrator makes a noise that startles the old man, which makes him call out “who’s there?”, yet the narrator stays quiet for a whole hour after that, as does the old man. The narrator relishes the thought of the old man fearing for his life now, realizing his life is in eminent danger. At this point, the story accelerates to the killing the old man, which is only described by him moving a heavy bed over him, but includes explicit detail of how the arms and legs were cut off, and discarded under the floor boards. I think that most readers expected the actual killing would have been the main thrust of the use of repression, but it is that of the discarding of the body that is more shocking than that of the actual murder. Perhaps this was in an attempt to keep the reader off balance, using the element of surprise again in his favor. The police arrive at the door in a response to the shriek made by the old man before being murdered, but he says that there is no reason at all for him to worry about it. He eventually cannot overcome the noise in his head, a noise that he thinks is coming from the heart of the dead old man, and confesses to the police by indicating that his body is under the floorboards. His eventual inability to repress his emotions of wanting to kill the old man enables him to commit the murder. Although there is no mention of the consequences of the murder, it is my opinion that this is supposed to be a letter written from prison, as he pleads his case to whoever will listen.

Question 2:
Edgar Allen Poe’s personal life was filled with struggle and hardship, which strongly influenced the darkness exposed in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. He was forced to deal with the estrangement of his father when he was 1 yr. old, his mother died when he was 3, and he lost his “first love” at 15, and his grieving and sense of loss played a role in his unique style of writing. Then his step mother died of tuberculosis not long after this, further straining the relationship he had with his step father. He was sent away to the University of Virginia with just enough money to get there, and no money for food or supplies. He incurred about $2000 in gambling debts which he could not repay and his step father refused to repay, so he fled and joined the Army under a false name to escape being put in prison. He was a brilliant young man with a passion for writing, and all of this devastation comes through poignantly in this short story. The overwhelming feeling of having the ability to contribute, but not the means, comes thru in built up frustration and eventual reconciliation as he reaches the point of no return. I feel that his life experiences, especially those of dealing with the great losses of his mother, step mother, and girlfriend, all at a young age have influenced his own fear of death.
In the article “The Life of Edgar Allan Poe”, Saul Shandly writes of four major influences in Poe’s life: “The most damaging areas in his life repeatedly introduced themselves into his poems and stories among these were alcohol, disease, death, and negative male role models.” I could not agree more with this observance, and this story includes both death and a negative male role model. The alcohol influence on his life was magnified by the fact that he had an allergy to alcohol, which accelerated the rate he would be drunk, usually getting very drunk from just one drink.

Blog #6

Question 2: Edgar Allan Poe lived a very different childhood then most. "Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who were itinerant actors" (Par. 2). After his mother died and his father left him, Poe was adopted by a family in Richmond. The influence and the lifestyle change that Poe encountered, changed his life over the course of time with intense experiences and a lot of death. When Poe was adopted he virtually lost his siblings and the lifestyle he had so far been raised in. Poe never experienced a true father son relationship and was forced to find happiness other places. Poe married his cousin whom which he loved very much. She died of tuberculosis and Poe faced dark life until his death at the age of 40.

In Tell Tale-Heart, Poe brings out the skeletons in his closet. He makes the reader feel what he had become acclimated to, death. The main theme is death, Poe was surrounded by it and he illustrates that in this piece. Poe experienced all kinds of death growing up, and even in adult hood, it is shown throughout Tell Tale-Heart. My perception of this piece is that Poe has found a way to tell his audience that death is a normal part of life. As the author, he makes the reader feel like it is ok to die, death is a part of life. I believe that Poe is the only author that can make murder comforting. Poe's life was filed with death, and in Tell Tale-Heart, Poe makes that clear.

Question 4: I chose the critical article Tell Tale-Heart. After reading this article my whole perspective on the story changed. The sexual references used in the article I tend to disagree with. This sexually charged language continues as the narrator describes the ritual that preceded the murder: "And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head [ ... ] I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in!" (303). The author is trying to connect the old man and the narrator sexual, and there is no evidence to support this insinuation. Yes the narrator alludes to loving the old man, but there is nothing to "sexually" back that up. As for what the narrator is feeling I agree. The anger and distance the narrator feels towards the old man is built up. I also disagree with the author that the narrator in fact is bipolar and can't control some of the emotions that are felt. Bipolar is a condition of which there is no control, and to me it seemed very pre meditated and thought out to be done with a bipolar condition. There are some things I agree with in this article and some things I disagree with, but overall it is a very insightful piece that I enjoyed reading.

Blog #6

Question #2: It is documented that Poe was orphaned at an early age when his mother passed away and his father abandoned him. He was later taken In by a couple but never formally adopted. He had a fall out with the father figure that took him and was disowned. Poe later married his cousin who later died of tuberculosis. Poe finally died at the age of 40. His cause of death is unknown, although the theories of death range from alcohol, to suicide, to tuberculosis. His life and death is dark and shrouded in mystery (Cornelius).

Poe’s works seem extremely macabre in nature. Reading “Tell-Tale Heart” I realized that death was a relevant theme that comforts the main character rather than something that scares, deters, or bothers him. Poe’s life seems to be riddled with the reality of death left and right, and so death being a theme that appears in his stories is no big surprise. However, in the story of “Tell-Tale Heart”, it is surprising to see how easily comforting death can be to the main character. Death seems to be a solution rather than a problem, which may speak to the repressed inner workings of Poe’s mind. Not only death, but murder in this story is a comfort and provides a true perspective into the author’s mind. Possibly, in my opinion, it appears that Poe has been surrounded by death so much that he sees it as a very normal part of life. So whether consciously or subconsciously, he uses this very dark theme as an important theme to “Tell-Tale Heart” because it is so commonplace in his life. To him, it seems like dying is part of living, so death appears often because he believes this statement is true.

Cornelius, Kay. "Biography of Edgar Allan Poe", Bloom's BioCritiques: Edgar Allan Poe, Ed. Harold Bloom, Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2002

Question #4: I read the article called “Critical Article: The TellTale” which comes to ask if the poem has elements of a sadomasochistic nature. The article mentions “Imbedded in the tale is the psychological journey of an egocentric who delivers pleasure from cruelty.” The article goes on by saying that the language used throughout is sexually charged in nature; “He speaks of the murder as a “conceived” idea that “entered” his brain.” It is continued by saying that the individual is bipolar in nature with his love and desire to kill the same man. “Wilhlem Stekel noted over seventy years ago, it is this coupling of love and hate that forms the basis for sadomasochism.” Calling the eye of the old man the narrator’s sadist “obsession” where the narrator not only receives pleasure from the act of murder but also from the ritual that precedes the murder. The article mentions that “Sigmund Freud observed that a sadist is simultaneously a masochist.” And the narrator is experiencing a moment where he is “merging himself with his victim” and that he can’t differentiate his own heart beat from that of his victims. The article then eventually claims that at the “heart of sadomasochism is egocentrism.” This is why the narrator talks about his own crime in such detail and eventually why he reveals what he did. He wants to be infamous or recognized in some fashion so he speaks about why he did what he did as a result of egocentrism.

As a reader I did not consider such observations however it seems that to some extent I agree. The sexual references I am not too sure of, however the idea of an egocentric, ego-maniacal man I can agree with. The narrator seems so intrigued by his own motives and his own work. He goes into great detail about his interpretations of the victim, how he kills him, and eventually even diffuses his own heartbeat to be that of the victim’s. He seems to use everything and everyone around him as a mirror reflection of himself, which is very narcissistic in nature. Later he is so convinced that the officers in his house can hear the dead victim’s heartbeat that he tells them what he did, which again, is egocentric because he believes his perspective of what he did is so much grander and greater in nature than anyone elses perspective. This is a very interesting premise to read the story in.