In today’s society, many people make bad decisions. In the novel, Monster by Walter Dean Myers, the narrator explains how one bad choice can lead to another. Steve Harmon, the narrator, was accused of being the lookout for a robbery which led to the murder of Mr. Nesbit and he goes on trial, debating whether he was an accessory to the murder. After reading the novel, one might think that Steve is not guilty because he didn’t kill Mr. Nesbitt and no witnesses saw him in the store. The jury has to decide if he was guilty for the murder, if he was guilty of being the lookout, and he even questions his innocence.
However, motive is used lightly and loosely in this sense. From “American Psycho”, there is no clear cut reason behind his killings, but many are due to the fact that the people around him cause his feelings of insecurity and inadequacy to arise. They make fun of his strange demeanor and call him many names; his lawyer, after being caught for killing an old lady outside of an ATM, refers to him as “a brown-nosing goody-goody”, and many people outside of his select few group of friends refer to him as “yuppie trash” (American Psycho). This causes more mental instability and gives an easier path into the realm of psychosis. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator specifically states, “Object there was none.
Humanity’s Delusion Edgar Allan Poe effectively utilizes different elements in the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” to convey his message. Poe believes that literary pieces should be short enough to finish in one sitting yet still be able to tell just as much to give more impact to the readers (Cummings, 2010). As does his other writings, “The Tell-Tale Heart” portrays several characteristics people have, revealing much about certain extremities in human nature and society in general. In the first few paragraphs Poe already presents us important details to the story.
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” contrary to popular belief, is not a madman’s confession to a crime, but rather a poorly put together defense arguing the narrator is not mad. Unlike a confession, the narrator never appears to display remorse for his actions. Instead, he continually emphasizes that he is not mad. Additionally, the narrator employs four of the six parts of a classical argument, a technique scarcely used in confessions. In a confession, one should feel remorse for their actions.
In the story, the narrator says “It was the beat of the old man's heart”(Poe). While hearing a heartbeat right before killing the old man. This proves that the old man is insane, because he believes that his own nervous heartbeat was that of the old man’s. A sane person would know that the heartbeat was that of their own and would know that you can't hear a dead man's heartbeat. The narrator also said that “The sound would be heard by a neighbor”.
All the narrator’s actions, from the abuse to the murders, are some effects of his alcoholism and insanity. A sane person clearly would not carry out these heinous acts and behave the way the narrator did after committing
The Tell-Tale Heart: Indirect Characterization In the excerpt “from The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allen Poe creates the conflicted character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of Action, what others say, and character’s internal thoughts, Poe portrays a story about insanity and reveals the conflicted and even insane thoughts and emotions going on in the character’s head. Poe uses Action as a component of indirect characterization to depict the meaning of the poem in many instances.
The narrator believes himself to be very intelligent and clever when he goes into the old man’s room at midnight. Poe’s word choice of “caution” and “how wisely” represents the man’s view of his own sanity. Yet the act he performs and the reasoning behind his murderous intention convinces the reader that the narrator has lost his sanity. He plots and is driven to kill a man after claiming, “ I loved the old man.
The Tell-Tale Heart Argumentative Paragraph In the story, “ The Tell-Tale Heart ,” Poe gives ideas which could prove that the narrator is criminally insane. The narrator could be named mad for some of his many actions and thoughts. The facts supporting this include: the defendant killed the old man over his “evil eye”, he brutally murdered the man and dismembered his body, he has to remind himself that he isn’t mad even though he committed murder, and states that he hears the dead man's heartbeat get louder and louder until he confesses murder. To begin with, the defendant kills the old man he lived with over his “evil” eye. He states that it gets to him, and drives him to eventually, after the 8th night, kill him.
In The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe the narrator is guilty of murder because the narrator thinks the old man could never suspect that his caregiver would ever try to kill him, he claims he can recite the story calmly and healthily as he remembers every detail unlike an insane person , and he admits to killing the old man so he is aware he has committed murder. It is important to realize that the narrator is too presumptuous because the old man would never think his caregiver would try to kill him when he expresses this statement “So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that at every night, Just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.’’ ( Poe 7).
To begin, the narrator cannot be trusted through his vague personality. The narrator claims, “And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he had passed the night” (Poe 626). The narrator mentions this the morning after the seventh night of stalking. In the wee hours of the morning, the narrator ever so cautiously enters the old man’s bedroom.
However, his true morals are revealed when the narrator shows signs of guilt like “My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears.” The narrator’s transition from superiority to guilt represents the reality that the acknowledgement of wrongdoings can either be done consciously or unconsciously, and that the latter has considerable negative
Ultimately it comes down to this, insane or sane? Insane would be the perfect way of describing a person being mad, killing a man for no reason, and laughing at a horrifying death. After having the narrator showing so many things to prove he is insane rather than sane is pretty clear. The author allows a visual understanding of the narrator in the “Tell Tale Heart” from having many specific details about his point of view.
On the other hand, the narrator acted weirdly in situations that are expected be handled in a normal way, like when the policemen were in the house. He acted weirdly since he was suspecting the policemen by thinking that they might know something about the death of the old man. He thought that the policemen suspected him for the murder of the old man. Therefore, he is indeed
The story of the narrator is untrustworthy at times because he is a madman, gives unbelievable statements, and continues to let what others cannot hear affect him. Some of the things the narrator starts off by saying shows he is a madman or a psychopath. It is hard to trust someone like that because they are good manipulators and at falsifying information to others. The narrator reveals, “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe 37).
