The Tell-Tale Heart 4 gr A

 The Tell-Tale Heart : 2nd and final part

1. What literary devices does Poe use to maximize narrative tension in the first paragraph of the second part ?

Poe stresses narrative tension through (with) numerous repetitions ("louder," "once," "quicker," "still"), the anaphoristic use of the pronoun I, and short, direct sentences that feature breaks and pauses.

we can also notice there are 6 exclamation marks in this paragraph, and one question that is asked directly to the reader.

In this paragraph, the narrator kills the old man.

2. In the second paragraph, how does Poe show his character is mad ?
Poe shows his character is mad because he's just killed someone and has no feelings. He speaks freely, openly about the way he dismembers the good old man, and even says that's the reason why he's not crazy (contradiction / paradox).

We identify with this remorseless assassin, and that's the tour de force of Poe. 

This gruesome description influenced writers like Baudelaire and theatre plays from the Grand Guignol.

3. Why are the police officers visiting the narrator in the middle of the night ?

The visit the narrator because a neighbour heard a strange noise, a shriek.

4. Read between "I smiled..." and "...within my ears." How is the perversity of the narrator exemplified ?

he has no regret / he manipulates the officers and talk to them as if everything was normal.

he sits on top of where he hid the body.

Perversity for Poe is an outside force beguiling (seducing) the mind of the characters, leading them to their demise (leur ruine) by revealing their dark secrets. Here, the narrator has an alibi, but he invites the policemen inside the house, and make them visit it. He tries to talk to them as if everything was normal, and he even sits on top of where he hid the body.

5. What literary devices does Poe use to maximize narrative tension in the last before least paragraph ?

The main character thinks he's going crazy, and that he can hear the heartbeats of the old man. He ultimately believes the officers can hear them too.

Poe uses questions and exclamation marks, and make the sentences go shorter step by step. In the end, they are only one word long. Repetitions are everywhere. 

6. Is this story fantastic or realistic ?

Realistic : about a killer, and there's no fantastic element. The fact that we're in the brains of the character makes it more grounded in reality. Everything might be explained by the madness of the character.

Fantastic : the eye of the old man / the heartbeats from the dead man / the narrator's supra sensitivity

7. Try and spot references to watches and time.

3. The Apple Tree, D. du Maurier, 1952

a. It takes place in December, Nat is a simple farmer. He looks at birds, and he likes to work alone.

b. We know he's married with children, and solitary ; it's a third person narrative. His environment is described. But there's another character, or characters : the birds.

> The Apple Tree is a short story anthology. A. Hitchcock bought the rights to The Birds and adapted it in the early 1960s, and changed the story quite a lot. She was not only a horror writer.

4. The Mist, Stephen King, 1985