Fear In The 7th Man

Helen Keller once said: “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.” Death, avoidance, fear, and selfishness are all important themes that present themselves in the short stories: “The 7th Man”, “We Ate the Children Last”, and “The Masque of the Red Death”. However, fear is the driving force that holds the stories together, and also causes many characters to make rash decisions to avoid fear. In “The 7th Man” fear is greatly personified and results in the death of K and the selfishness of the narrator. The characters in “We Ate the Children Last” and “The Masque of the Red Death”, avoided fear intentionally which resulted in their eventual dissolution. In the “7th Man”, “We Ate the Children Last”, and the “Masque of

Although lacking in figurative language compared to the two other stories, the author’s literal descriptions of the horrors occurring in the country convey fears similar to those of the citizens themselves. As the patients begin acting stranger, the main turning point is when the story states. “Mothers who had turned away momentarily were finding their baby carriages empty”. This changes the mood from disgust to fear and horror. Also, fear is even more prominent when the author includes, “There were terrible scenes during the round-up: neighbors denouncing neighbors, children being separated from their families, men, women and children being stripped in public to look for telling scars, summary executions of people who tried to escape. “ This reveals how the citizens of the country feared the patients, so they sent anybody that could have possibly had the procedure to camps, which had catastrophic

Edgar Allen Poe gradually increases the dread and fear throughout the novel until its climax. In the beginning of the story, the idea of wealthy nobility partying while their country deteriorates suggests that they will be eventually be punished by the “Red Death” himself. A very figurative quote from the story is, “a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical”. The clock in this short story represents a countdown, which is counting down to the death of Prince Prospero and the other party guests. The author then describes the guests’ reactions as, “the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation.” This description suggests that the partygoers knew themselves of the presence of the Red Death, so they were afraid of what would eventually happen to them. Near the end of the story, when the mysterious figure appears at the party, all of the guest grow worried and afraid. They were worried because they had a good idea who that was, and was afraid that the disease had managed to get into