Tell Tale Heart Annotation

"Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degree--very gradually--I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus, rid myself of the eye forever. (Poe, 73)" "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe follows a man who seems to be mentally ill. He kills an older man because of his eye, which the narrator sees as evil. Before the murder, he stalks the man every night at midnight, waiting for the elder to open his "vulture eye." The night he does, the narrator suffocates the older man to death, burying him under his floorboards. "Nothing But The Truth" by Avi is a story about a student, Philip Maloy, and a teacher, Miss Narwin. Philip sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" to get put into another class. He gets sent to the principal's office. Things take a turn for the worse, and Philip gets suspended. While at home, he causes much more dire

He does not intend to be unreliable, though, and his delusion is unintentional. He twists the truth because sometimes he doesn't know he's lying. For example, the text states, "The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. I sat, and while I answered cheerily. they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distant:-----it continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definitiveness--until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears." This excerpt explains how the narrator in "The Tell Tale Heart" is delusional and unreliable, though he doesn't intend to be. The narrator for "Nothing But the Truth" is intentionally unreliable. Philip Maloy is arrogant and egotistical. He lies about his math teacher and is often obnoxious in class. For example, in the text states,