Poe's Stories brief biography of edgar allan poe
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Short Story By Flannery OConnor
| whims and eccentricities at the same time, so we are not quite sure how to take him and neither is the narrator. The description of the house that they setup as their bachelor pad in the city is typical of Gothic atmosphere. The narrator of "Rue-Morgue" tells us that if you could observe their daily routines, you’d think the pair suffered from madness. They kept completely to themselves. Dupin especially was obsessed with nighttime, and soon, the narrator feels the same way, and even in the day, they recreate the darkness and atmosphere of the Parisien night, keeping their shutters closed. In this false night, they write and read, and then when real night came, they jaunt around town. Dupin’s influence is strong, and soon the narrator is following his eccentric patterns and living a night-owl life. This obsession with darkness and undercover living suggests danger and we suspect that the pair might attract some mysterious goings on. The narrator of "Rue-Morgue" comments that Dupin has a particular analytic ability and enjoys using it while they are out, observing the human specimens around them. He believes he can see right into a man’s soul. The narrator doesn’t want to be misunderstood, this isn’t a mystery story about Dupin’s character, he is just using it an example from their recent strolling to illustrate Dupin’s astuteness. Though the narrator claims that this is not a story about Dupin’s passions, we are made to be very intrigued by Dupin’s unusual gifts and in light of the exhaustive description we have just heard in favor of the creative, sensitive mind, Dupin’s sensitivity alerts us to his superiority. Both parties are deep in thought, when suddenly Dupin interrupts with a comment strangely matching the narrator’s, about a little fellow, who would do well in a sort of freak show. The narrator of "Rue-Morgue" tests him, and Dupin guesses absolutely correctly that the narrator was thinking about the figure of Chantilly. Dupin then explains how he did it. He says first that it was the fruit-seller they ran into earlier in the street that brought him to the name. The narrator doesn’t believe it, though he starts to remember the fruit-seller, who had nearly knocked him down behind a basket of apples. Dupin begins to reveal himself to be more than just a set of eccentric habits. He has the ability to seethe narrator’s thoughts, even thoughts that appear to be steps removed from the scene at hand. This supernatural sense gives Dupin the upper hand and we see that the story revolves around his analytical sensitivity. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2017 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 35 Next, Dupin explains the series of events that lead him to think of Chantilly. The narrator of "Rue-Morgue" says of this trick that it is just as if he himself has retraced his steps and his thoughts. After the fruit-seller, the narrator had tripped on a flagstone and looked down. Dupin knew he was thinking about the stones, and then they reached a newly paved street and the narrator had said to himself “stereonomy” to describe the pattern. Dupin knew then, that the word stereonomy would connote the idea of atomies and theories of Epicurus, and the next logical step would be to think of the most recent space theorist, Dr. Nichol, and lookup towards the constellation Orion. The description of Dupin’s process of detecting the narrator’s thoughts is long and complicated but Dupin doesn’t seem to put any effort into it, it comes naturally to him. This gives him a very special, intellectual power. Poe's stories often put a man of reason into a supernatural situation that overwhelms him. But Dupin seems to have a mind that combines reason and sensitivity in away that can Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
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