Sequoia Ybarra

10-27-10

3/4

Response to Literature: Tell- Tale Heart

“I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” (Pg. 626)This is a spine-chilling quote from Edgar Allen Poe’s intriguing story, The Tell- Tale Heart. Poe’s story is eerie and shocking. In this story, a deranged madman is driven into becoming more demented, into a criminal, by an old man’s “vulture eye”. It is an “evil eye” he says, “a pale blue eye, with a film over it.”(Pg. 625) Because of this vexing eye, the fatuous man decides to make it so he never has to deal with the hideous eye that has made him so insane. This fascinating story has graphic imagery, a frightening mood, and a riveting plot that will keep you guessing!

The mind- blowing imagery of The Tell- Tale Heart is very realistic. It feels like you’re actually in the book, or watching the movie. “a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones.” (Pg. 627) Is a quote that describes the old man’s perplexing eye, and is excellent at explaining the sight of it. Another quote that makes you feel like you are seeing what is happening in the story is, “ like the thread of a spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.”(Pg. 627) He is describing the scene when he opens the lantern in the old man's bedroom and the light shines right on the evil eye, as if by fate The superb imagery gives a stupendous example of the mood.

The mood of this a story is horrendously frightening. “Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was a the groan of mortal terror.” Is a hair- raising quote from page 627. It is the quote that he uses to explain the mood of when he is staring at the old man in the bedroom, getting prepared to kill. Another chilling quote in this story was on Pg. 628. "The old man was dead." That is a good example of the mood because it can give you goosebumps just by reading it. Tell-Tale Heart's mood sets a great example for the eerie plot of this story.
"He had the eye of a vulture- a pale blue eye with a film over it." (Pg. 625) Is describing what the whole story revolves around- the old man's beastly eye. The eye that leads to murder. Another quote that is a superior example of the plot is, "I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever." (Pg. 626) This quote tells about the plot because the narrator, the madman, kills the old man to get rid of his eye. The plot of The Tell- Tale Heart is very well described by Edgar Allen Poe with all the fantastic components of the story.
The Tell- Tale Heart has so many superb literary components in it, but I believe the most important ones are imagery, mood and the plot. Imagery shows a great example of the mood because it can show in detail what is happening in the story and what you should feel while your reading the story. This quote, "a dull blue eye, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones."(Pg. 627) shows a lot of imagery. Mood leads to the plot, because the way you feel exemplifies what the story is about. "He was stone dead." (Pg. 628) shows how you feel when you read this bone- chilling story, and it shows the plot because this is what happens during The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.