Essay Comparing The Ghost Boy And The Tell Tale Heart

A heart that continues to beat even after it dies, and the spirit of a boy that can only be seen out of the corner of the viewer’s eyes, well, that is what the stories “The Ghost Boy” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” are about. “The Ghost Boy” is about a boy named Luke and his dad who visits a museum with an oddity show while their train takes an elongated break. They see several oddities such as The Cardiff Giant, the indestructible heart, and The Ghost Boy of Peking. “The Tell-Tale Heart,” tells of a man called villain who kills an old man. He hides the man’s heart in his floor but continues to hear it beat. The stories “The Ghost Boy” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” have many similarities and differences between them such as the plot centering around

In “The Ghost Boy”, Luke helps the ghost boy’s spirit find peace. On page 29, the text states, “With great effort, the boy raises his arms and mimes throwing something to the floor. “You want me to break the jar?” Luke says. The boy does it again, more emphatically, then points out the window. To Luke it can only mean one thing. The ghost boy wants to be released. “Yes,” Luke says, “I will.”……. From the corner of his eye, Luke sees the boy smiling. Luke hurls the jar out the window” (Oppel, 29). In contrast, villain in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is driven mad by the beating of the old man’s heart. In the text it says, “Stage Director 2: The villain began to pace……. Stage Director One: The villain clutches his head and covers his ears…...All Ravens: Oh, the agony! Villian: I could bear it no more…...Villian: Cruel monsters, dissemble no more I did it! I confess! Tear up the floor! Here! Here! It is the beating! It is the beating of the old man’s hideous heart!” Lewis. “The Tell-Tale Heart” This quote is significant because it shows that the beating of the old man’s heart eventually drives the villain crazy. Ealy in the passage, the villain had stated how he would not be found guilty of his crimes, but the beating of the heart eventually leads him to confess. In summary, Luke and villain have very different attitudes toward the phantom that they come in to contact