Wednesday, October 22, 2008

"The Tell-Tale Heart": Live Blogging


Enjoy your discussion of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Remember to uphold our standards of professionalism (capitalization, grammar, etc.), and to bring in textual passages when possible.

75 comments:

lesliel said...

What do you guys think the noise the narrator was hearing at the end of the story was?

aaronw said...

I believe it was the noise of the future!....
ya!

josed said...

I think the noise was all in his head. He wasn't guilty, but something snapped. He said he loved the old man, but he wanted to kill him. He wasn't guilty, but the internal conflict had to be vented.

kristinah said...

Lesliel-
I think that the noise was all in his head, it reminds me of the fall of the house of usher and the noise he was hearing.... but I think it was his conscience and how guilty he felt

kristinah said...

o haha I agree with josed....
Aaronw- the future??? What do you mean?

Alyssa S. said...

Leslie- I think the noise was just a physical affect of his conscience overwhelming him.

lesliel said...

Kind of like how the beating of the man's heart became so loud?

catherinec said...

leslie- I think the sound at the end was the old mans heart beating. But I don't think it was actually beating, I think it was just in his head.

KelseyL said...

I just have a random question but why do you think that some of the words through out the story were in all caps?

kristinah said...

Leslie- i think it became louder and louder because he starts to feel more and more quilty

maddisonm said...

Lesliel- I also think the sound was all in his head, but I think he was hearing the sound of a distorted heart beat as a sign of his guiltiness

aaronw said...

is the noises in this story and the fall of the house of usher a coincidence? or did Edgar allen poe use experience in writing this?

kristinah said...

Kelsey- I think that is just to put emphasis and what was going on.. to make it stand out from the rest of the text

rachelseverson said...

Do you think his actions at the end were the result of his guilt about killing the old man? I think it might have been due to his conflict about killing the man he loved vs. ridding himself of the "Evil Eye". He views the eye and the man as seperate entities, but by getting rid of one he had to kill the other.

catem said...

The eye in reminds me of The Chosen and how the eyes represent the person. I think that the fact that this eye was all knowing and scary, scared the guy to death, because like Allison and Seth said the eye could who he really was.

ErinO said...

Hey Leslie
I agree with Kat. I believe that it was the heart of the old man. I think that it wasn't really the heart literally, but in his mind the heart was still beating; almost haunting him.

maddisonm said...

Do you guys think that the narrator was a madman, or just wise?

aaronw said...

kristina-
i thought it'd be a good convo starter :)
haha.
but ya, it's like... his future!

KelseyL said...

I think the eye represents the fear of being judged by others and the fear that he might find out the inner most secrets.

kristinah said...

aaron- experience, like he murdered someone himself and he heard these noises too?

catherinec said...

Some of the words were in all caps because he was emphasizing his feelings toward the sound. Although I can't come up with a reason why the very first word of the story was capitalize.

aaronw said...

mad-eye moody!
the all seeing eye in Lord of the Rings!
it's all because of this story!

RayS said...

Kelsey
Probably just for emphasis...

rachelseverson said...

I don't know if this is important, but what's the narrator's relation to the old man?

brennanl said...

rachel- i think he was regreting his decision to kill him; but not enough to realize it, but the indecision just made him snap.

kristinah said...

catem- well "the eyes are the window to the soul" so maybe he tought that the creepy eye was all knowing and could see what he was doing

aaronw said...

perhaps, kristina.
i was thinking more like he could "hear" voices and stuff.
probably when he was on opium :)
haha

KelseyL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ErinO said...

Hey everyone (mainly Rachel and Cate)
I love the way you are thinking, but what if he really intended to kill the old man? What if this whole eye line of thinking was to distract his mind from really comprehending that he killed the man for pleasure. THis eye thing may be just a rouse to save him from consuming guilt.

KelseyL said...

maddison
I think that he was a madman. I think when he spends so much time denying that he is mad, that it makes me think that he is mad. When people spend a lot of time defending things, it makes me think that they are trying to hide something.

catem said...

Kelsey~I noticed that as well. I think that since they were in somewhat random places, that they might have been there to emphasize the fact that he is severely confused.

brennanl said...

What do you guys think the old man represents?

kristinah said...

why do you guys think that TRUE is in all caps as the first word of the story???

maddisonm said...

rachels- I was wondering the same thing. I am not sure how he had a connection to the old man, but he must have lived with him becuase he had full access to his room. Does anyone know the connection?

Alyssa S. said...

I agree with Helen on the inner circle, I think the way he talks, shows his internal battle, where he is trying to convince himself that he isn't crazy.

lesliel said...

Rachel
I think that the narrator's mental illness was exemplified by the fact that he had to kill a man that he loved.

kristinah said...

maybe the narrorator is the old man.... oooooo.... think about that??

catherinec said...

Has anyone else noticed that Poe in both stories (The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart) he has created a motif or symbol through the singular version of 'eye'?

ErinO said...

Does being a "madman" really negate your credit of being considered normally "sane"? Why do you think that his quality of being somewhat loony made him seem not worthy of trust and of telling the truth?

catem said...

Erin~If that is true do you think that the only thing that was motivating him to kill the old man was his mental state?

RayS said...

Going off alisons question, I don't think he would have killed the old man if it wern't fot the eye because that was the only element that was driving him crazy.

kristinah said...

Maybe the whole time he is talking to himself and trying to get rid of the person in him that is crazy and with a deformed, creepy eye... maybe he had been made fun of his whole life for it and he just wanted to get rid of it... he loved that part of him but he wanted to get rid of it "kill it"

lesliel said...

Bren,
The man could represent, the sane part of the narrator...



Kristina,
True could be in all caps because he is trying to convince the reader or himself that he is truthful and not guilty, and not mad.

aaronw said...

ray-
i don't think he would've

ErinO said...

Hey Cat,
What was the eye motif in the Fall of the HOuse of Usher?

Alyssa S. said...

Kristina- I think that could be possible if this entire story was symbolic, and the old man represented one side of him, and he represented another side of himself. So if that were true, what did the old man and himself represent?

maddisonm said...

Cat- I totally noticed that! In both stories I circled everytime Poe refered to an "eye" and it was a lot! What do you think this means?

catherinec said...

Personally I don't think the narrator literally "loved" the old man. It is just a saying, for instance, "Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but..." Many people use it to make there wrong doing against someone not personally offensive.

rachelseverson said...

erino - That definitely would explain his guilt. The inner circle is talking about how he's convincing himself he's not crazy. That's a great idea that he's focusing so much on the eye to distract himself from or distort the fact that he just wanted to kill for pleasure.

kristinah said...

that makes sense.. thanks leslie!

KelseyL said...

Maybe the narrator just made up this story and it was all in his head.

RayS said...

Erin~ I think most people dont trust him because when people are thought to be mentally insane they are viewed diffrent from other people,like when we were talking about steryotypes before the crucible, like hobos, we dont trust them and we dont really know why. We dont trust him because we can't relate to what he thinks.

lesliel said...

Anyone think that the old man might have held some kind of power over the narrator, because the eye was always watching him or something? kind of like in 1984?

kristinah said...

alyssa- I think that the old man and himself would both be like one person but the old man is the part of him he wants to get rid of, he wants to get rid of the old, ugly, and ugly hearted part of himself

maddisonm said...

kelseyl- Do you really think he made the story up? Maybe he wished to do this, but realized what the outcome would be?

catem said...

Cat and Maddison~ When in the Fall of the House of Usher did they mention the motif of the eye? I saw more connections in the fact that they hear noises that you aren't necessarily real, and lead to the character's demise.

Alyssa S. said...

Kristina- I agree. Would the eye represent some action he made then?

KelseyL said...

maddison
I think that this story could be made up because the narrator was kind of mental and we don't really know that much about him, and he could just be trying to have some fun by making up a story that people would believe, just to see if they would believe him or not.

aaronw said...

it think every author ever is in on a conspiracy to have some connection between every story or book EVER written.
It's so that we can have good discussions in school.
i'm kidding

rachelseverson said...

The narrator focused a lot on how much power had over the old man, like when he leaned into his bedroom while the old man slept. Why do you think the narrator was so preoccupied with being in a position of power over the old man? I think this might go back to the narrator's position in life - maybe he's a servant or someting similar to the old man.

brennanl said...

I think that maybe his eye was the only thing that had power over the narrator, and people dont really like not being completely in control of themselves. So maybe he killed him to show himself that nothing would have power over his life

maddisonm said...

Why weren't the police reacting at the end?

catem said...

I agree with what Leslie, and think that the old man had some untold power over the narrator, and that was his motive for killing him, perhaps a parenting role.

ErinO said...

Hey Cate
I think that there are always several complex levels to each action anyone does. I think that someone can do something based upon one thing. It was probably a combination of multiple reasons that people just labeled as crazy. I believe that no one is really crazy cause there are always too many levels to actually tell.

rachelseverson said...

On the second page the narrator says "He was still sitting up in the bed, listening; just as I have done night after night hearking to the death watches in the hall." This sencence kind of confused me - what do you think the death watches in the hall are?

DennisRocks said...

So going off the inner circle- does the narrator truly love the lod man, or does he just say this to alleviate his sole- to justify his actions?

LeslieL said...

MAN'S THIRST FOR POWER!

catem said...

Erin~ What do you think classifies someone as crazy? Do you think that sometimes we call too many people mentally insane, and if so why? Are tough events easier to except if we think that they were performed as an act of insanity?

rachelseverson said...

Jusk kidding Jose just answered it.

Unknown said...

I have the same question as Maddison, which is:

"Why weren't the police reacting at the end?"

In the story:

"I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased."

Personally, I would see that as abnormal, but it seems that the police did not. A more likely solution is that the account is exaggerated. That the emotions he was experience created in him the desire to do these things. In that case, the final paragraph of the story where he shows the body to them would be their first sign of abnormality, and caused by his internal battle. This makes more sense to me, personally.

DennisRocks said...

Seth's question was good. I think the answer is that his guilty conscience was the reason for his demise. Emotion overtook him.

catem said...

Do you think that the narrator has done weird things before this, because the neighbors suspected foul play after hearing just one scream?

KelseyL said...

Matt so are you saying that those things he was doing were in his head and it was more of an internal battle on whether or not to tell the police or someone what he has done?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

@ kelseyl

Yes, because I cannot see anyone just talking as if nothing was happening to someone who was raving and swearing about presumably small, mundane topics.