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Last time we read The Mask of the Red Death (1842), Tell-Tale Heart (1843) and The Black Cat (1843).
We gather again on next Friday 6.11.
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okay, I wonder if I'm posting this on the right section since there are no other comments here.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, we read three short storied by Edgar Allan Poe, The Mask of the Red Death (1842), Tell-Tale Heart (1843) and The Black Cat (1843).
The Mask of Red Death was horrible. It consisted of long, drawn out descriptions, with nearly no plot developement. It did little to build up tension, and in the end the climax of the story was lost. It had the potential to be a much better story, if only had the author spent a little less time describing curtains.
The Black Cat was magnificant.It had a well built plot, proper use of description, and well constructed characters. The only flaw I have with this story is that the ending was a little bland. The anger that compells the husband to murder his cats and wife could have been given more detial, in my opinion.
The Tell-Tale heart is a classic I'm sure most have read. It is also my personal favorite. The use of description is perfect--sublte yet to the point,and the pace of the story is set at a steady rhythm, so that is never deviates too much from the sombre atmosphere. The build up towards the end, the ticking beneath the floor boards was perfect. I could almost feel the stress and agony seeping through beneath the floorboards, and grasping the poor boy who's name I'm not sure was mentioned.
All in all, all three stories exhibited great talent, but clearly one of them stood out from the rest.
Seems like everyone is busy with schoolwork this week. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteThe Mask of the Red Death was unpleasentful. The language used in it was over my head, and I hardly got the grasp of what was going on. I suppose I should have read a few times to fully understand it, but I had not enough time nor desire to do this. However, I think the language used at least seemed beautiful, and I might come back to it later on. I have not got more to say.
Tell-Tale Heart was interesting, at least. The protagonist/narrator was some kind of psycho who insists that he is a sane man with "over-acuteness of the senses." He says that he is a sane man, because no insane man would calculate the murder so precisely. He tells that he has planned this murder for a while, and then practises the silent creeping in the old man’s room for a week before the bloodbath. The narrator justifies his actions by saying that the old man had a vulture eye.
The story itself was interesting, and the protagonist made it even more interesting. The beginning caught my attention as soon as I started reading. The structure was well-built, and the language used fit the story and was easily understandable.
The Black Cat was my favourite one of these short stories. Although the story was short (oh, really?), the characters were well-built, and the protagonist was again the most interesting one of them. I cannot remember what caused the loss of the protagonist’s sanity, but it happened step by step, climaxing in the hanging of the cat, and later on murdering his wife. It is interesting to see that out of the three stories we read, that in two polices got the hang of what was happening almost se quickly that it made me question why it was so. Oh, well, maybe the stories had a small “teaching” in them. The language in this one was wonderful, and rather easy to understand, making it enjoyable for me to read it.
Three similar stories, in some ways, from one author. Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat were almost indentical; The Mask of the Red Death differed stylistically - more descriptive - but had the same theme - death.
ReplyDeleteWhat strikes out straight away is precisely this theme. It is easy not to see past it - the whole idea gives the stories the feel 'this is sick; who would read this?'. Personally, I don't have such a strong reaction. There still is something else there, even though the main character is a killer. Maybe a bit too much focus, but maybe its the art of the author to describe what is related to it.
The Black Cat was in my view the best of the lot. It is a realistic story of a somewhat anti-heroic character, trying to do things right, yet failing in doing so. It seems that the author was carried away a bit by his transformation from sorry to evil, by it helps develop the plot and fit it into a short story. The fact that it conludes with a type of mystery being solved rounds of the story well.
The Mask of the Red Death didn't come across to me. The despcription makes use of imagery well and maybe it gets people - not me. All I see is some narrative going on about some castle, then some dude pops in and kills some other dude who's in power, apparently in a really flashy way. Where's the story? Where's the point? Maybe a it's a type of literary art, but I'd rather listen to my grandma describe her trip to aan old historical castle.
Tell-Tale Heart - much like The Black Cat, but framing the passage was missing - it's difficult to see it as a story. The reader jumps right in to the story, but doesn't know where he is. The narration doesn't catch you up on the missing details like it should, but at the end, the story is concluded well. A bit awkward, but it makes sense.
As for books, in general, as a form of media? Let's face it - the society today is lazy. The typical person can't read books, unless they're really good (or unless the person is really civilized). This leaves this form to only the best (and those who can convince schools to study them). were these short stories goo enough? No, but they were't completely bad either.
All right, last time we read three short stories by Edgar Allan (F?) Poe,
ReplyDeleteThe Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart and the Mask of the Red Death. I'll
say a few words about each of them seperately.
The Black Cat.
The Black Cat was obviously most easily accessible of the lot, and that shows in the comments. It is perhaps a bit unfair to label it as "the best" of the stories, but it certainly deserves the approval. The story
was well built, it's imagery vivid, and regardless of the short length its characterisation was great. However, I personally found it the least interesting of the stories, for though it was great, there was nothing particulary ingenious in it, it was a great story, but 13 out of dozen of good stories are like this.
The Tell-Tale Heart.
Tell-Tale heart was superficially like The Black Cat; both of them were described from the murderer's viewpoint, and the plot was remarkably similar. Yet, there was also a fundamental difference: where Black Cat was built and told in a traditional way, Tell-Tale Heart was almost modern in the way it was told, and was a clear break from the traditional short-story. I found that most refreshing, and thus would be compelled to rank this one more highly than the story that preceded it. For The Tell-Tale Heart was indeed ingenious, short but deep, and superior in all aspects but lengh.
The Masque of the Red Death.
Last but not least: The Masque. It seems very few people actually liked it, but that's all right, let me tell why I find it the best among the stories we read.
Masque was a bit different from the other stories in the sense that in it the plot was of secondary importance, overshadowed by the vivid description and building of setting. The Masque was like a painting, or an expensive piece of jewelry; what was important was not what the piece described, but how it was described. There was not a single misplaced word, and every detail had been carefully designed to give out the desired impression. Indeed, those who read it for the story or for characters to symphatise with were disappointed... and yet there was such beauty in it...
Oh well, let me just say that just like an old painting is not dismissed because of what it describes is no longer relevant to us, The Masque should not be dismissed because it does not open easily.
And to answer Mikael :P: I don't think short stories are in any way reserved only to most sophisticated people. People still *do* read books, and even the collection from which these books were taken from topped the finnish bestseller list for books a year ago. Furthermore, I think it is an illusion that society today is lazier than before... we are more civilised than ever before, and while today many people prefer other forms of media to books, yesterday they preferred working in the fields or drinking to them.
Hm. I'm sorry i don't really feel like i have anything relevant to say and anything i would say is completely irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of text just unfortunately isn't my type and for several reasons (i had trouble understanding the language, i'm not used to reading this kind of text and it just is not my style)it just didn't open.
I am keeping to wonder how this can be defined as "popular media" even though i understand that Edgar Allan Poe is a very important and appreciated writer.
wow, just realized my first sentence makes absolutely no sense xD well, try to understand my point.
ReplyDelete(Nicholas Nikkinen here)
ReplyDeleteEdgar Allan Poe is a very, very, very, morbid man. Period. As interesting as plagues in castles, hearts under floorboards, and cats in walls are, Edgar Allan Poe is solely capable of turning these topics into complete braindeaths.
The Tell-Tale Heart
This story I have read several times before in other English classes. I haven´t enjpyed it that much before, and I haven´t started enjoying it now. The story is basically about a man who kills an elderly man, and then covers up the scene by placing the body under the very floorbaords of the crime scene. When the police arrive, the killer places the chairs right on top of the incriminating floorbaords and proceeds to have a conversation with the police. After a while, the so called ticking of the dead man´s heart drives the killer to confess what he has done.
The message behind this story is a given: the conscience. The killers mind, slowly but surely, begins to fill with the cried os his conscience telling him he has committed murder (or so we can infer). The killer´s arrogance drops severely as he battles to stop the turmoil of emotions going on inside him; and of course, like every other good cliché, the story ends in a confession.
The Black Cat
In addition to the above mentioned story, I have also read this one a few years ago. The only thing that really "appealed" to me in this story is the description of emotions and violence. This story is about a man who, after battling it out with his cat and wife, kills his spouse and walls her into the foundation of his house. The black cat surpriseling ends up being walled up with the wife, but naturally the husband does not notice. The man, in his arrogance, allows the police to thoroughly search his house for the body of his wife; this includes the walls of the foundation. The cat in the wall, for God knows what reason, is still alive and with its meowing, helps the police uncover the hidden body.
This story, like The Tell-Tale Heart, is based upon the arrogance of man and how it will inevitably lead to his fall.
The Masque of Red Death
Once again, another story I have already read. (Way to go Poe, for writing such riveting stories every teacher feels the need to force a class to analyze...) This story was just a big mess. Every little aspect of the story had a message needing to be analysed, and on a Friday afternoon, analysis takes the back seat.
If memory serves, the story is about a rich castle-owner-king-guy who holds a party while the rest of the land/kingdom suffers from the plague. He barricades all the wealthy and powerful in his castle and lets the average joe die. In the end, it was the "prince´s" arrogance with regard to the plague not entering the castle that ended up dooming them all.
All in all, this was painful, painful stuff.