Writing Style and The Reader - A Critique On Poe
Poe was a literary master with the emotions of his readers. He could make a reader feel anything he wanted to with just a few sentences. Through the stories "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", he takes the reader through the emotions of his characters using writing methods that draw the reader in. His use of sentence structure and writing style allows the reader to become intimate with the character. Poe knew how the get a reader deep into the story; he could make them believe as thought they went through the deeds with the character. It is how Poe accomplishes this feat that is very interesting topic. Poe makes his characters more human than human. This allows many readers to become interested simply because they can identify with how the characters feel. Poe uses very basic human emotions like fear, hatred, anxiety and guilt to draw in audience's interests. The main character in The Tell-Tale Heart had an unnatural hatred for a physical characteristic on a friend. He "thinks it was his eye! yes, it was [that]! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture, a pale blue eye, with a film over it", his blood ran cold whenever it fell upon him (106). This is something many people can identify with as many have experienced a
The similarity in the characters after the deed is done also quite interesting. Both characters were little disturbed with their dark deeds (185). Bot men have an unnatural hatred for a person through an object, the eye of the old man or the cat. The similarity of how the characters react is a strategy Poe uses in his writing. Both characters go through similar demises: there is the build up of the tension; usually both characters do not realise why it is that they want to rid themselves of one person. The build up lasts for a few pages, until the deed is finally done. This is a quick and sudden occurrence. The reader is left overwhelmed with what has just happened, and isn't quite sure why the protagonist has killed off their companion. Poe takes what would have been the climax of the story and dulls the climactic qualities of this event. The reader is forced to read on because of the intrigue Poe uses to draw the reader onward through pages. Another way for Poe to allow the reader to become more in tune with the character is for Poe to give the character no name and the victims no name. This device allows the reader to realize that anyone can be the characters Poe creates. It allows the readers imagination to take the story further long after the book is completed. The anonymity adds a sense of anxiety in readers, as they begin to second-guess the screams they hear at night. In the Black Cat, Poe's mechanism for the reader becoming intimate with the protagonist is the use of an alcohol driven rage. Many readers now and in Poe's life time would have understood and co
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Approximate Word count = 1072
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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