Poe's Stories brief biography of edgar allan poe
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Short Story By Flannery OConnor
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| Related Characters Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter) (speaker) Related Themes: Related Symbols: Page Number 252 Explanation and Analysis In this symbolic passage, the narrator makes an interesting analogy for understanding the world. The best way to understand a star in the night sky isn't to look at it directly. Indeed, when staring directly at a star, the star's light is dimmer. The best way to truly observe the star is to look just to the side of the star, allowing the greatest amount of light to enter the eyes. The narrator's description of the stars is a clever metaphor for the way that Dupin goes about solving crimes, and perhaps for the way that Poe understands the universe. Total rationality (looking directly at the stars) simply isn't enough. Rather, the greatest insights can be achieved through intuition and free imagination (look to the side of a star. Dupin solves his cases by allowing his imagination and intuition to interact with his conscious mind. By the same token, Poe's stories are so evocative and memorable because they're full of events that have no rational explanation--i.e., they can only be understood if one surrenders some rationality in favor of imagination and emotion. The Tell-Tale Heart Quotes I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye yes, it was this He had the eye of a vulture. Related Characters Narrator (The Tell-Tale Heart) (speaker), The Old Man Related Themes: Related Symbols: Page Number 187 Explanation and Analysis In this passage, the narrator of the story tries to explain why he killed an old man. The narrator's explanation is that he didn't like the man's eye--which, according to the narrator, resembles the eye of a vulture. For Poe, the eye is the ultimate symbol of man's irrationality and unpredictability. The eyes are the window to the soul, and thus for the narrator to be repelled by an eye is for him to be frightened by an inexplicable, irrational fear of another person's soul. Put another way, there is no rational motive for the narrator's act of murder--as he makes very clear, he doesn't kill the old man because he hates him, or to get his gold. As with so many of the bizarre and frightening things in Poe's stories, there is no real reason for them to happen; and yet they happen all the same, making them all the more uncanny. And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense – now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2017 LitCharts LLC v.006 www.LitCharts.com Page 12 |