This topic contains a solution. Click here to go to the answer

Author Question: Point to details in the story that identify its speaker as an unreliablenarrator. What will be an ... (Read 1146 times)

OSWALD

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 580
Point to details in the story that identify its speaker as an unreliablenarrator.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

From what point of view is Poes story told? Why is this point of view particularly effective for The Tell-Tale Heart?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question
Marked as best answer by a Subject Expert

nital

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 320
Answer to Question 1


  • The teller of Poes tale is a classic unreliable narrator. He is not deliberately trying to mislead his audience; he is delusional, and the reader can easily find the many places in the story where the narrators telling reveals his mistaken perceptions. His presentation is also deeply ironic: the insistence on his sanity puts his madness on display. The first paragraph alone, brief as it is, should provide fertile ground for students sent to find evidence of his severe disturbance. This passage should clinch the point all by itself: I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. From there, you can lead the class into a discussion of the subsequent manifestations of his madnesshis perception of the old mans eye as a thing in itself, independent of its admittedly benevolent possessor; his extreme attention to details and matters that others could find insignificant; his fixation on a single objective for an insanely long period of time; his need to flaunt his brilliance, even if only to himself, by inviting the police into the house; and so on.



Answer to Question 2


  • The story has a first-person narrator, the man who lives with and murders the inoffensive old man. Edgar Allan Poe paid very careful attention to the technical details of his stories. He knew that craft led to effects, so he planned every detail of his stories from theme to character to point of view. As Daniel Hoffman shows in his highly personal and deeply stimulating Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe (1973), The Tell-Tale Heart wouldnt be half as effective without the madman himself as its narrator. Indeed, its climax would not occur without that point-of-view choice. An omniscient narrator in this case might reveal the mysteries that give the story its power (the idea that the dead man is in fact the narrators father, as Hoffman suggests; the paranoia of the narrator would also be moot for an omniscient voice). Demonstrations of the narrators imbalance come at the very beginning of the story, and they provide the context in which we will evaluate everything else that he says and does.





OSWALD

  • Member
  • Posts: 580
Reply 2 on: Jul 20, 2018
Gracias!


amynguyen1221

  • Member
  • Posts: 355
Reply 3 on: Yesterday
YES! Correct, THANKS for helping me on my review

 

Did you know?

There are more nerve cells in one human brain than there are stars in the Milky Way.

Did you know?

Throughout history, plants containing cardiac steroids have been used as heart drugs and as poisons (e.g., in arrows used in combat), emetics, and diuretics.

Did you know?

Never take aspirin without food because it is likely to irritate your stomach. Never give aspirin to children under age 12. Overdoses of aspirin have the potential to cause deafness.

Did you know?

Today, nearly 8 out of 10 pregnant women living with HIV (about 1.1 million), receive antiretrovirals.

Did you know?

Addicts to opiates often avoid treatment because they are afraid of withdrawal. Though unpleasant, with proper management, withdrawal is rarely fatal and passes relatively quickly.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library