Homework for Lesson #26, The Tell-Tale Heart

James' Homework:

A good description of the environment in which the story happens will always lead the readers reading the story with relish. And Edgar Allan Poe did it well enough to contribute to an environment full of horror and fear in the passage The Tell-Tale Heart.

Horror stories always take part at night, so this story did. Because there is little light during the night and everything is likely to abruptly appear in front of your eyes. Let’s say, night is the foundation of this story. And then comes the main character who wants to kill the old man. Obviously, fear cannot be found in his heart, but fear gluts the silent room since it is written that “ Perhaps he heard me, and he moved on the bed suddenly.” The old man doesn't know what is happening, and the atmosphere of fear and horror stands out, as he knows there is something approaching without knowing anything of a possible result.

We can read from the story that the man is trying to make pauses and to keep the environment being silent. So there are always silences after some noisy actions. The fitful silence cannot make the old man feel safe; instead, it scares him a lot. 

Under a great pressure, the old man can do nothing but groan, a groaning of mortal terror in this fear-filled atmosphere.

Leo's Homework:

3.  How has Poe established an atmosphere of fear or horror in the story?

At first, Poe used a very good compare and contrast strategy. He used first personal view to claim the protagonist in normal, while readers are realizing that the protagonist is insane and weird.

Then, Poe used several detailed writing to illustrate how the protagonist is stalking the old man. With detailed writing, it will be easy for readers to find themselves in the scene that Poe writes. Imagine you are sleeping and some stranger is stalking you. It will be very frightening. 

After that, Poe specifically wrote the details of the protagonist killing the old man. With such a scene, readers felt frightened for the insanity of the protagonist and are afraid of if it will happen to them.

Finally, Poe wrote about how evil the young man is with putting the main point on how he tricked polices and his mental behavior. It is hard to imagine people like that around us. The best part of what Poe did, is to write the sound around the protagonist. That did not only made readers sure that the protagonist is crazy, it also made readers relate to supernatural events, therefore making readers extremely feared.

Overall, with these elements that Poe used to write the Tell Taled Heart, it could scare a majority of people that read this short story, thus making it a successful horror story.