(English+9+Honors,+section+2)+Analyzing+a+narrative--The+Tell-Tale+Heart

=**Analyzing a narrative** (English 9 Honors, section 2)**--"The Tell-Tale Heart"**=


 * In the appropriate spot below, post your findings and your comments and insights on your assigned element. For example, if you have "Setting," describe the setting, using textual evidence to support your thoughts. **

=== **//Example of a post (__made-up__, in this case about the setting)://** ===
 * The story is set in South America--the narrator says so: "In South America did we pass our time" (page 2), and on page 7 Miguel talks about "going to Lima" which is a city in Peru. **

**Setting (Caroline Barber, Sydney Long):**
Place:


 * The story is set in the narrator and old man's house.
 * o “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.”


 * The specific settings are wherever the narrator was the old man's room and the front door of the house.


 * o “And every night about midnight I turned the latch of his door and opened it—ah, so gently!” (1)
 * o “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” (2).
 * o “As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart—for what had I now to fear?” (4)
 * § This is showing they are at their front door by the street.


 * The principal setting was the old man's room because that is where the narrator went to kill the man and where he was talking to the police.
 * o “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” (2).


 * The narrator and the old man are the only two people in the house, making it very easy to kill him, making it very eerie.

Time:


 * Around the 19th Century
 * o Even though the time period cannot be proven, it was written in 1843.
 * § "The Tell-Tale Heart." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2012.
 * o “I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in the bed, crying out, ‘Who’s there?’”
 * § Lanterns are not commonly used these days


 * The story takes place over the course of 8 days. (Not including the narrator telling the story)


 * o “And this I did for seven long nights—every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed, and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye” (1-2).
 * o “Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door” (2).


 * Everything happened very quickly and with it being set mostly in the night, made it very scary.

**Characters (Greyson Burnett, Kasey Rohleder, Emma Yaninger):**
Who are the characters in the story? - The narrator, old man, police men

Which characters are relatively //round?// Which are relatively //flat?// - Narrator- round - Old man, police men- flat
 * o “My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease” (5).
 * o “While I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own sear upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim” (4).

What are the qualities or characteristics of the characters? - Narrator - Old man Are any of the characters ambiguous, hard to define? - Narrator and <range type="comment" id="499989">police men
 * o Mentally unsound/Paranoid
 * o “The disease had sharpened my sense- not destroyed- not dulled them” (1).
 * o Meticulous and methodical
 * o “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded- with what caution- with what foresight- with what dissimulation I went to work” (1).
 * o “It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed” (1).
 * o Rich
 * o “For his gold, I had no desire” (1).
 * o Paranoid
 * o “His room was as black as pitch (for the sutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers)…” (2).

What change do you see in the round or dynamic characters? - Narrator
 * o <range type="comment" id="547089">Real and not real
 * o “I heard all things in heaven and in the earth” (1).


 * o Perception of what’s going on around him
 * o “Almighty God!- no, no! They hear!- they suspected!- they knew!- they were making a mockery of my horror!- this I thought, and this I think” (5).
 * o <range type="comment" id="386946">Calm or panicked
 * o “And now a new anxiety seized me- the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The od man’s hour had come” (3).

**Plot (Emily Ann Betts, Saaleha Medlock, Whitney Weiss):**
How would you summarize the plot as a sequence of causes and effects? The Evil eye causes the man to become paranoid. “I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture = a place blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold; and so by degrees-very gradually”” (1).

The evil eye causes the narrator to want to kill the old man. “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever”

The desire to kill the old man causes the narrator to go and watch him at midnight every night for 8 nights “I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye, And this I did for seven long nights-“ (1). “Upon the eight night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door.” (2).

‍The evil eye causes the narrator to kill the old man.‍ ‍ “The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once- once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor and pulled the heavy bed over him.” (3). (4). The narrator’s guilt causes him to hallucinate‍ the heartbeat ‍causes him to become guilty‍ and admits to the crime. “It was a low, dull, quick sound-much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.” (5). Who is the protagonist of the story? The narrator/madman “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded-with what caution- with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work!” (1). How would you summarize the plot in terms of the protagonist’s //goal// and the //conflicts// he or she becomes involved with? The narrator is bothered by the “evil” eye of an old man and sets out to get rid of it. He spies on the man every night for eight nights and then kills him. The man takes the corpse apart and hides it under the floorboards to ensure that the old man is gone. When the police search the house, he is calm and collected, but he <range type="comment" id="795685">loses it when he begins hearing the ticking noise in his mind again. The madman feels guilty <range type="comment" id="339287">due to being paranoid and then admits to committing the crime. “I smiled-for what had I to fear? I bate the gentlemen welcome.” (4). “The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them, I was singularly at ease.” (5). “No doubt I now grew very pale.” (5). “ I talked more quickly-more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased.” (5). “I felt that I must scream or die! And now-again-hark! Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder!” (5).

**Theme (Kat Glover, Elizabeth Serafen):**
What are some statements about the human condition that seem to be suggested by the story? Which of the statements seems best to match your understanding of the story?
 * Mental illnesses can control your life
 * Guilt can consume you and become too much to handle
 * You must first convince yourself of something before you can convince others
 * Obsessing over an object can alter your perspective on what’s really important in life
 * Obsessing over an object can force you to <range type="comment" id="141946">loose <range type="comment" id="170105">sight of what you really care about
 * o “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never giver me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!” (1)
 * o “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever” (1)
 * o “I found the eye always closed, and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye” (1)
 * o “He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more” (4)

**Symbolism (Kate Chapman, Emma Rolader, Hailey Wilson):**
Tell Tale Heart states, “…hearkening to the death watches in the wall.” We also see the death watches as a countdown to someone's death.
 * The watches:**

“….now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (6). "It was a low, dull, quick sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (9). It “watches” and counts down the time leading up to the man's death

“But the beating grew louder, louder. I thought the heart must burst” (3). The old man's heart (beat) is also a watch because of his life running out and counting down.

We think that the eye is a symbol of the narrator's obsessions with the Old Man. ‍It shows the feelings of obsession once the eye is discussed.‍ It seems dull and unseeing but it has “strange powers”. It makes the narrator's blood run cold. It "chill[s] the very marrow in [his] bones" (6). After hiding the old man's body, the narrator "replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye – not even his [the old man's] – could have detected any thing wrong" (8). That sentence suggests at some point the eye could see secret or hidden things.
 * The Evil Eye**: