literature

Introduction

The choice of a narrative mode shapes how readers perceive the actions of the main characters. This paper will include an analysis of two short stories, namely Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway and A&P by John Updike. These literary works exemplify different story-telling techniques that enable the writers to achieve various goals. Overall, it is possible to say that these authors can choose an approach that best fits their purposes. This is the main point that should be discussed more closely.

A&P by John Updike

First, it should be mentioned that these writers use different story-telling techniques. In particular, Updike relies on first-person narration. The readers are prompted to look through the eyes of a teenage clerk, Sammy, who works at an A&P supermarket. The main advantage of this approach is that the writer can throw light on the inner world of this character. For instance, this story-teller seems to be a cynical person.

At first glance, one can say that he despises other people who he regards as slaves. Nevertheless, it is possible to argue that this first impression is very delusive. For instance, the narrative indicates that the protagonist desperately wants to produce a favorable impression on the girls who enter the A&P store. Moreover, it becomes evident that Sammy is a romantic or even naïve individual. One can say that the first-person narration helps the writer to illustrate the conflicting motives that drive the behavior of the protagonist. Additionally, this character represents a wide group of young people who chose to rebel against consumer culture.

Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

In his turn, Ernest Hemingway takes a different approach to story-telling. He relies on the third-person objective narration which means that the writer does not speak about the thoughts, emotions, or attitudes of the character. To a great extent, readers are prompted to reach their conclusions about the plot and characters. Hills Like White Elephants can be viewed as a good example of this technique.

In this case, the text of the short-story is mostly a dialogue between the two characters. The author does not try to evaluate the actions or arguments made by the protagonists. Additionally, the readers can only make conjectures about the subject that the characters discuss. For instance, one can suppose that the man tries to persuade the girl to undergo some form of surgery, probably abortion. However, one cannot say it for sure.

The main detail is that Hemingway refuses to make any comments about the relations between these characters. This use of third-person objective narration enables the writer to intrigue the readers and arrest their attention. The main advantage of this method is that it helps the writer to pose thought-provoking questions to the audience. For example, one can reflect on the future relations between the two characters. This is why the use of the third-person objective narration is quite justified.

Conclusion

Thus, these examples show how different narrative modes can be applied. In particular, John Updike’s use of the first-person narration is critical for describing the inner world of an adolescent who cannot adjust to the consumer culture. In turn, Ernest Hemingway’s approach is critical for engaging readers who are prompted to think about the motives that underlie the words or actions of the main characters. These are the main issues that can be identified.

Introduction

James Baldwin spent most of his adult life living in France, but is widely recognized as an essentially American writer. Having been born and raised in New York’s Harlem district, he was intimately familiar with the sights and sounds that appeared in his stories even though he’d put an entire ocean between them. Born in 1924 to an unmarried woman placed a stigma on his head that would continue to haunt him and cause friction between himself and his adoptive father, David Baldwin.

Although seen to attempt following the straight and narrow course outlined for him by his father in becoming a Pentecostal preacher at age 14, by the time he was 17 Baldwin had moved to the artist’s neighborhood of Greenwich Village and was beginning his writing career. Inequality and hatred for his race and sexuality drove Baldwin to seek a more forgiving community and he moved to France, a move that would provide him with the distance required to write truthfully about the actual black experience from the perspective of the black man.

Through the experiences of his youth and the distance of his adulthood, Baldwin was able to both illustrate the unique nature of the black community as well as demonstrate its similarities to the white community while encouraging each race to listen to each other. In his short story “Sonny’s Blues,” for example, Baldwin focuses the story on the universally human concerns of providing for family and personal growth, thus creating a story that could be as easily concerned with white people as black. Through the unique sounds of the black neighborhood, though, Baldwin symbolizes how they are different and highlights the extreme importance and value of listening.

Discussion

Throughout the story, the narrator establishes himself as a completely human individual as he both blames himself and pities himself for his currently life circumstances. He demonstrates again and again that he is at least partially responsible for the predicament he finds himself in, living in the housing projects of New York and supporting a younger brother who has just been released from jail following an arrest for dealing heroin.

Chronologically, this is first demonstrated in his inability to listen to his younger brother shortly after their mother dies which leads to a division between the brothers that proves difficult to overcome. It is demonstrated again in his unwillingness to consider the words of Sonny’s old friend after he learns of Sonny’s arrest. However, the seeds of change are already planted in this encounter and hope for a different future is suggested in the narrator’s willingness to listen, actually listen, to Sonny in the end.

The idea that the main concern of the story is with the growth of this narrator is supported by critics. “Baldwin’s deeper concern is with the narrator, the respectable schoolteacher, the ‘white’ Negro … The author shows that the nameless ‘I’ of his story, though older, is not wiser, and he uses both Sonny and his music as tools to help the narrator reconcile himself to his racial heritage” (Ognibene, 1971: 36).

Because of his previous inability to listen to others, the narrator created division between himself and his brother that prevented him from understanding the drug difficulties his brother was experiencing, yet his newfound willingness to try listening suggests hope for both brothers’ futures. In this progression, Baldwin presents a story that could be occurring to a black family as easily as it could a white family, but that also demonstrates the consequences of division and potentials of unity listening might provide.

The particular circumstances of life for the family in the story are undeniably related uniquely to the lower income bracket, but continue to remain focused on the strictly human elements of these characters rather than a uniquely black experience as the narrator begins his growth process. Although his early relationship with his brother is not revealed until well into the story, the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” reminds himself that he was unable to listen to his brother many years ago, which probably contributed to his brother’s isolation and drug use.

Just after their mother died, the narrator remembers a conversation he had with his brother regarding having Sonny stay with Isabella, the narrator’s new wife, and her family while the narrator finishes out his term with the Army. Sonny begs his brother to send him out of Harlem by allowing him to join the Navy, providing several hints in the process that something is seriously wrong, but the narrator doesn’t listen to him. When Sonny tells his brother “I ain’t learning nothing in school. … Even when I go”, the narrator should have realized the hint that Sonny doesn’t often attend class. He further hints at trouble in the neighborhood when he says “At least, I ain’t learning nothing you’d want me to learn.”

The brother doesn’t stop to find out what Sonny’s learning or explore what the problems might be. Instead, he sticks to his own ideas of what’s right for Sonny in encouraging him to stay and finish school. While he obviously only has Sonny’s best interests in mind, he is blind to the particular problems Sonny is facing. This is what Sonny refers to when he tells his brother, “I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.”

In placing the scene within the vernacular of the Harlem streets, thus in the ‘sound’ of the story, Baldwin begins to highlight the uniquely black element of the story and seems to be hinting to white people to listen to the greater message. The black people, living in the district, can tell white people what is wrong so that, by working together, things can be made better, but white people continue to feel they are best capable of determining the ‘proper’ answer and thus install ‘solutions’ that lead to disaster.

After Sonny is arrested for dealing in heroin (and at the beginning of the story), the narrator mechanically drives himself through a day of teaching high school algebra and then runs into an old friend of Sonny’s outside the school, an encounter that demonstrates his changing ability to listen. As the two men talk, the old friend reveals that he wasn’t caught with Sonny because he’d rather used a pistol on himself than join Sonny’s crowd.

The narrator responds by telling the friend he’s not interested in the other’s story. “Then I felt guilty – guilty, probably, for never having supposed that the poor bastard had a story of his own, much less a sad one.” Some critics argue that the narrator refuses to listen to this friend. According to Goldman (1974), “the narrator psychologically retreats. Fearful of learning about heroin and too anxious himself to help Sonny, he timidly asks what the arrest means” (Goldman, 1974: 231).

However, his willingness to seek answers from this individual marks the beginning of the narrator’s change from one of assuming he has all the answers to one of listening for new insight. In his profession, in his language and in his natural reactions to the events around him, the narrator comes across as white, allowing the white reader to identify to a greater degree with this man. As he begins to listen more carefully to what Sonny’s old friend has to say, the narrator begins to understand those around him at a greater depth than he has before, which is symbolized by the inclusion of music, uniquely black jazz music, in his narrative.

He looks in at a barmaid as the old friend is talking and notices her interacting with other people in the bar. “And I watched her face as she laughingly responded to something someone said to her, still keeping time to the music. When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling woman beneath the battered face of the semi-whore.” This echoes his earlier insight into the young men he teaches when he heard a single whistle rise above the angry laughter of fellow classmates and begins to establish the connections between black and white Baldwin was encouraging.

The narrator’s growth can be seen in his response to Sonny at the end of the story, a response that provides hope that the future for both brothers will be much different from the past. This is, in part, brought about by the narrator’s willingness to reach out to his brother while he’s in prison and provide him with a home following prison, but also to Sonny’s willingness to give his brother another chance at reconciliation by inviting him to come hear Sonny play.

“I sensed, I don’t know how, that I couldn’t possibly say no,” the narrator says, finally coming to the realization that he must hear his brother before he can hope to help him. Although he’s never understood Sonny’s music before, the narrator agrees to try and Sonny tells him, “There’s no way of getting it out – that storm inside. You can’t talk to it and you can’t make love with it, and when you finally try to get with it and play it, you realize nobody’s listening.

So you’ve got to listen. You got to find a way to listen.” The narrator’s ability to finally understand what is being said through Sonny’s music later that evening and Sonny’s reception of the message sent through the Scotch and milk, suggests a more understanding future. As Baldwin weaves the narrative through sound and storyline, black and white readers are able to identify with it on a personal level, recognizing in the action something familiar and recognizing in the sound something strange.

As the protagonist grows to at least attempt to listen to what his brother is saying, Baldwin is encouraging both black and white readers to attempt to communicate with the other. That the black man is the victim in the relationship is not called into question as Sonny is prevented from taking the protective measures he knew he needed and continues to plead with his brother to hear him, but forgiveness is required if things are to be made better.

Throughout the story, the narrator takes at least half responsibility for the problems that the two brothers have suffered. By not listening to his brother to begin with, the narrator is unable to catch the hints Sonny was throwing his way regarding how Sonny’s life was already falling apart. His attempts to listen while he talks to Sonny’s old friend demonstrate how he is beginning to realize his own complication in the matter, beginning to see some of the story behind the people who surround him that he has never even considered before. Finally, the narrator’s willingness to try to listen to Sonny reveals an ability to finally understand his brother’s music and opens up a channel of communication between them that exists on more equal terms.

Although he’d been unable to hear his brother earlier in their lives, the narrator’s experiences after his brother is arrested begins to open his mind to the concept of other people’s stories. This finally gives him the ability to hear his brother. This growth in the character and the subsequent hope for the future this change brings about illustrates how the narrator’s ability to listen contributed greatly to the problems the two of them have experienced. Expanding this to the broader range, Baldwin calls on white and black ‘brothers’ to get together and try to listen to each other in order to build a better world.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. R.V. Cassil & Richard Bausch (Eds.). 6^th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000.

Goldman, Suzy Bernstein. “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: A Message in Music.” Negro American Literature Forum. Vol. 8, N. 3, (1974): 231-233.

Ognibene, Elaine R. “Black Literature Revisited: ‘Sonny’s Blues.’” The English Journal. Vol. 60, N. 1, (1971): 36-37.

The reality of modern life is such that every person in this way or another tries to find relief in something. For me, it is literature that helps to understand the world better, to adjust to it, and not to get lost in the numerous problems life presents us with.

I have noticed that every piece of literary work reflects the society that the characters are destined to live in. One can hardly neglect the significance of the close interconnection between the characters and society. Claude McKay‘s Crazy Mary is one of the books that reflects the close interconnection between the characters and the society they are destined to live in.

Reading McKay’s work we observe how Mary’s (the protagonist’s) character undergoes changes under the influence of society. Her problem is introduced just as the story starts:

Miss Mary startled the village for the first time in her strange life that day when she turned herself up and showed her naked self to them. Suddenly the villagers realized that after many years of harmless craziness something was perhaps dangerously wrong with Mary, but before they could do anything about it she settled the matter herself (McKay 192).

The reader is introduced to a drastic change in the main character’s life: Miss Mary has transformed from the respected sewing-mistress of the village school to the mad person whose behavior was hardly understood by society. After a series of events when her suitor, the village schoolmaster is accused of impregnating a student, of being betrayed by the lover, and being humiliated by the villages she loses her mind. Miss Mary’s madness results in the suicide she commits. I am inclined to think that both madness and suicide were a sort of response to the narrow-mindedness of her society. Though suicide is commonly regarded as an act of weak people I believe that in this particular case the position is not justified.

Miss Mary showed herself as a strong character when she made the student confess that the schoolmaster had not touched her and when she gave an account of Freshy’s confession. “Speaking quietly in her refined way and holding all attention with her pretty personality, she was almost convincing the whole meeting.” (McKay 195) My point is that a morally weak person is not capable of convincing others of one’s righteousness no matter how persuaded he or she is. The other thing is that Miss Mary’s strength was ruined by the pressure that society had on her. The writer managed to show how influential public opinion maybe when it is directed against a person not protected by anyone. Miss Mary was alone in her sorrow and no one attempted to help her. It seems that even a single loving or at least respecting heart could have saved her life.

The main character found killing herself the best way out in the situation she occurred. The author showed how a strong character can be defeated by the oppressive power of society which becomes unanimous in its lack of faith in one’s moral principles and his or her firmness of character. This often happens in a society that does not have any moral principles at all. The village was just “shaken as if by an earthquake” by the news about the schoolmaster, but they kept on listening to the subjective testimonies of both parties during the church meetings without making adequate conclusions analyzing the results of the doctor’s examination of the student (McKay 194).

I cannot but sympathize with Miss Mary in her grief. What deepens the problem is my understanding of the fact that the character’s tragedy is not a rare thing in any society. When one’s individualism becomes a person’s feature, society often initiates the “hunt” for this person. Without the needed help from people around this person is destined to lose his or her moral strength and fall defeated by public opinion.

I believe that the character of Miss Mary from McKay’s Crazy Mary is a symbol of the devastating impact of the oppressive society. The short story made me think of my own attitude to the problem “personality-society” and work out a set of principles not to become a victim of the society I live in. This is where the main significance of the work is rooted and, at the same time, this is the main reason why the book appealed to me.

Works Cited

Goldweber, David. “HOME AT LAST: The Pilgrimage of Claude McKay.”1999: 11.

McKay, Claude. Short Stories. Kingertown, 1932.

Introduction

Short stories have the ability to convey a great deal of information in a short space of time through careful use of literary tools such as imagery, narration and contrast. By using these tools to deliver a consistent message, writers are able to question many of our assumed knowledge and force us to take a new look at an old idea. Raymond Carver, for instance, manages to question our assumptions about vision, what it is and what is important for us to see, by using narration, imagery and contrast to convey his story “Cathedral.”

Main body

The narrator admits from the very beginning that he is nervous about having a blind man in his house, suggesting that he himself is actually quite blind to the reality of the world around him. He says, “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs.” The narrator quickly emerges as a man blinded by ignorance as he first wonders whether he should take a blind man bowling for entertainment or if his wife was black based upon her name, Beulah.

His concerns and ideas regarding the blind man seem completely unfounded and irrational, such as his surprise that a blind man might choose to wear a full beard, while his ideas regarding what to talk about remain hopelessly figured on the visual. When he turns the TV on, it is clear he does so out of boredom with the conversation and as a means of synthesizing some of the information he’s received regarding the blind man, simply by watching him. The narrator has proven himself to be blind in his thoughts and ideas and this has made him mute in the company he’s keeping.

Imagery provides the reader with a picture of what is going on in the story and, in this story, provides the first indication that the blind man is not as ‘blind’ as the narrator. The narrator tells us what his wife has told him about the blind man coming to visit, evoking a tender scene in which a very intimate and deeply moving connection was made between the wife and the blind man. “She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose—even her neck! She never forgot it … In the poem, she recalled his fingers and the way they had moved around over her face.

In the poem, she talked about what she had felt at the time, about what went through her mind when the blind man touched her nose and lips.” As he tries to decide what to talk about with the blind man, the narrator cannot seem to get away from the visual, wanting to suggest which side of the train to sit on for the best view of the Hudson. Finally, though, it is imagery that marks the difference between the two men as one thinks only in terms of pictures and the other, upon reflection, must admit that he really has no idea of what is meant by the word ‘cathedral’.

Although the blind narrator is perfectly capable of seeing what the cathedral looks like, he is not able to describe it in any means other than the simple visual ideas of height and space while the blind man is capable of determining a means of both ‘showing’ him what a cathedral might look like and instructing the blind narrator regarding another means of ‘seeing.’ The image later in the story of the blind man with his hand covering the hand of the narrator as they draw a picture of a cathedral on the side of a shopping bag invokes images of the parent helpfully guiding the hand of the child as they learn their letters.

It is through contrast between the sighted and unsighted men that the author manages to bring out questions regarding our understanding of the concept of vision and where we place our importance. This begins to emerge as the blind man is described in contrast to the narrator’s previous speculations regarding the outlandish clothes Beulah might have worn giving that no one would be able to tell what her color choices might have been.

The blind man “wore brown slacks, brown shoes, a light-brown shirt, a tie, a sports coat. Spiffy. He also had this full beard. But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses. I’d always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind.” While the narrator is obviously not that interested in learning about things, the blind man is open to new experiences and new ideas.

This is evident not only in the many professions he talks about having engaged in but also as he casually tries marijuana for the first time and the way he demonstrates his interest in learning more about cathedrals simply because they’re on the TV and there is an opportunity presenting itself. In encouraging the narrator to draw a cathedral together as a means of ‘showing’ the blind man what a cathedral is, the blind man manages to open the narrator’s eyes, and the reader’s as well, to the various ways in which the world might be seen differently. “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. ‘It’s really something,’ I said.”

Conclusion

Through imagery, narration and contrast, Raymond Carver manages to demonstrate how many people are blinded by their fixation on a single sense or a single, ill-informed idea. In presenting the blind man as a normal human being capable of thought and adventure, Carver contrasts this far-seeing man with the sighted blindness of the narrator and suggests that blindness is often a matter of choice. Only by trying something new, attempting to ‘see’ things from another’s perspective and leaving oneself open to the possibilities of new experiences can growth and true sight be obtained.

Works Cited

Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral.” Name of book. Place of publication: publisher’s name, date of publication: page numbers where story is found.

Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe did not live an easy life while he was growing up. Early in his life, he lost a mother along with a mother figure due to illness. Both of his father figures left him as well, so at the age of 16, he was an orphan with only writing to turn to. What is an adolescent boy to write about when he knows nothing except death, illness, and deprivation? Horror. His early life, in part, might explain Poe’s bizarre stories and poems. However, it is apparent that Poe is more than just a horror story writer; he uses his work to explain psychological and moral realities to his readers. (Lawrence, 1985).

The life that Poe experienced was reflected in his writing. Beginning with early childhood, when he lost his parents, Poe was subjected to a difficult life that would later have a major effect on his work. Among his foster father, John Allan, his first love, Sarah Elmira Royster, and his young first wife, Virginia Clemm, his contacts largely defined his works. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, to two small-theater actors, Elizabeth and David Poe. When his father died at the age of thirty-six, his mother, who was still acting, would have Edgar and his sister, Rosalie, sleep backstage.

Early Life Tragedies

On December 11, 1811, at only twenty-four, his mother died of tuberculosis, and he and his sister were orphaned. His sister was sent to live with a Mrs. Mackenzie and Edgar, to John and Frances Allan, whose marriage had been childless. Poe was never adopted but they took care of him. William, Edgar’s older brother, had been living with the grandfather, David Poe, Sr. because at the time of his birth, his parents did not have the money to care for him. Edgar moved to Richmond, Virginia, with the Allans, where he slept in his own bedroom in the apartment above his stepfather’s store. Edgar never got along with his foster father, argued with him, and hardly showed any affection. John Allan once even described his son as sulky, miserable, and ill-tempered (Bloom, 1985).

In 1825, he became secretly engaged to fifteen-year-old Sarah Elmira Royster. Her father found out, however, and finding Poe unsuitable for a son-in-law, she was forced to break off the relationship. She wed a successful businessman instead (Meltzer, 2003). Poe entered the University of Virginia in the spring of 1826. He studied many languages including Italian, French, Latin, and Spanish. But John Allan made him leave one year later after young Poe racked up huge debts by drinking and gambling instead of attending classes (Buranelli, 1977).

Poetical Career

In 1829, he had his second volume of verse, Al Aaraaf, published. He reconciled with his father to help him leave the Army and Allan was able to obtain an appointment for Poe at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Poe quarreled with John Allan before entering West Point, and that argument, coupled with the widowed Allan’s remarriage to Louisa Gabriella Patterson, created a final, irrevocable break. His foster father disowned him permanently, and with no financial support, Poe felt he had no choice but to get himself expelled in order to find a job. Edgar Allan Poe went through a lot of stress in his early life, and his alcohol use can be repeatedly seen in many of his works, like The Black Cat and The Cask of Amontillado. His addiction to drugs with hallucinogenic effects, such as opium, played a part in his writing as seen in the mental breakdown of the mind of the main character in The Raven. In The Fall of the House of Usher the main character, Roderick Usher, is the most perfect pen-portrait of Poe (Tilton, 2003).

When Poe and his new family returned to Virginia in 1826, he enrolled in the newly opened University of Virginia. It was there that he studied classical and modern languages, including Latin. However, after receiving very little allowance from John Allan, Poe turned to gamble to help supplement his income. In a matter of eight months, he had lost nearly $2000. Allan refused to help him with his debts, which led him to estrangement from his family. In March of the next year, Poe left home to live on his own.

Joining the Army

Poe returned to Richmond and worked for Allan as a clerk. Disliking the work very much, he ran away to Boston, where he published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1827. One of the poems, which he addressed to Sarah Royster was called Song and was about a woman who married another man and experienced a burning blush expressing a maiden shame (Pickering, 1995). After moving to Baltimore and then back to Boston, he decided to sign up for a five-year enlistment in the U.S. Army. That same year, he managed to publish Tamerlane and Other Poems, but the book failed to attract notice from the public. Two years later, under the fictitious name of Edgar A.

Perry, Poe rose to the highest nonpaying rank in the Army, sergeant major. He didn’t want to serve his full five years, however, and arranged to be discharged from the Army under the condition that he would seek an appointment at West Point, a U.S. military academy. He was later dismissed from the academy for “gross neglect of duty” and “disobedience of orders.” That same year Al Araaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems were published in Baltimore and surprisingly received a highly favorable notice from critic John Neal. Having newly found success, he visited Allan in Richmond, but a violent quarrel caused him to leave in May 1830.

Later that year, Poe and Virginia moved to New York, where he published The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. In 1838, they decided to move to Philadelphia, where he served as co-editor of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. In two years, he quadrupled the magazine’s circulation from 5,000 to 20,000 and contributed some of his best fiction to its pages, including “The Fall of the House of Usher.” In 1841, there was trouble with the magazine and he left for the literary editorship of Graham’s Magazine. (Buranelli, 1977).

Poe’s Writing and Autobiographical Impact

Edgar Allan Poe’s writing was influenced by tragedies he experienced throughout his life, as well as his experiments with drugs and alcohol. Poe had two main loves in his life, Virginia Clemm, and Sarah Helen Power Whitman. These two women had a great impact on both his writing and his health. After his departure from West Point, Poe decided to move to Baltimore with his Aunt Maria and his thirteen-year-old cousin Virginia. After realizing he was in love with Virginia, they decided to marry. Poe’s relationship with Virginia was very rocky due to his drug and alcohol addictions and Virginia’s poor health. Poe’s attitude depended all on how Virginia was feeling.

Sarah Helen Power Whitman was one of Poe’s great loves and the inspiration for the second To Helen’ (Bloom, 1985). Three years prior to their meeting, Poe saw Helen at a party after a lecture he gave in Providence, Rhode Island, but never spoke (May 1991). After finding out Poe was interested in her, she became very fond of his poetry, which led her to compose the playful poem To Edgar A. Poe for Valentine’s Day party in 1848 (Peeples, 1998). On December 15, 1848, Poe and Helen drew up a marriage contract after Helen’s mother Mrs. Nicholas insisted (Bloom, 1985). The wedding was called off on December 23, 1848, after Helen found out about his interest in Annie Richmond.

Poe’s writings and his relationship with Virginia caused him great depression and he began heavily drinking. Poe would travel around the world with the intent to speak with students about his writings, but the night before he would either forget or sleep days at a time. After returning home to Virginia he decided to enter an alcohol program to stop drinking, but it did not succeed. Virginia’s health got worse and so did Poe’s drinking problem.

Poe felt that the alcohol was not sufficient at soothing his problems. During a crucial and dramatic time, he attempted suicide by taking laudanum. Laudanum was a solution of powdered opium in alcohol; it had weaker opium content than morphine or heroin. At the time, this drug was used in mental hospitals as a tranquilizer. Critics have been mixed concerning Poe. Many years after his death, his work still received much attention. Some critics harshly criticized Poe’s writing but most have been inspired by his use of sound effects, vivid imageries, and his exploration of altered mental states and the dark side of human nature. Some of Poe’s tales also contain undeniable traces of sadism. His half-mad murderers delight in torturing their victims and eventually killing them with devilish savagery. The old man’s terror must have been extreme,’ jubilantly exclaims the murderer of The Tell-Tale Heart’. His work has remained very popular among American readers despite his uncertain states of mind. (Buranelli, 1977).

Poe’s Disposition

Edgar Allen Poe was a mentally unstable man which allowed him to have a very unique writing ability. His upbringing was a major contributing factor to this instability. Both of Poe’s parents died when he was at the mere age of two. Poe grew up with his aunt and uncle, who gave him some of the best opportunities to be successful in life but deprived him of the love and attention needed to become a normal person. Poe’s uncle never accepted him into the family and because of this there were some quarrelsome times. Poe went on to figure out a path that would guide his life but had a hard time figuring out what it was he wanted to do. He traveled all over the map and eventually found that writing poetry and stories would help ease his misery. Poe wrote an astonishing amount of poetry and short stories for the short life span he had (1809-1849).

Poe’s Style and Technique Versatility

Poe’s disturbed life had a great influence on the variety of literary elements that he used. Because of the tragedies and horrible situations he got himself into, we can see many things such as pain, fear, or agony reflected in the work he has done. The two short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” have very similar noticeable literary techniques in common: writing style, irony, and point-of-view. Poe’s writing technique has been discriminated against by many well-known authors, mostly because of the fact that they can’t relate to his ridiculously creepy subject matter, which is seen in his writing style.

Poe uses repetition of words to emphasize the meaning of a certain line or paragraph. For example, in the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe constantly repeats the word “very”: “true!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am.” We can also see a repetition of words in the short story “The Black Cat” where the author uses “hung it” when referring to how he would like to see the cat die. He uses these two words more than six times in one sentence. By using repetition Poe enables the reader to slow down the rate at which they read and register in their minds how unstable both of the narrators really are. In the two short stories “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” obsession is something that Poe uses as well. “The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me into madness.” This is the author’s way of telling the reader that the narrator is fueled by the hatred for the cat and obsessed with seeing it to its death. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the reader hears these lines: “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution – with what foresight – with what dissimulation I went to work!” By using this kind of exciting description the author makes the narrator seem like an obsessive repulsive freak.

The point of view that each of the narrators has in these two stories is very similar. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator tries to convince the reader that he is perfectly sane, when in fact, it is totally opposite. We see this when the narrator tells us: “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing”. The same goes for “The Black Cat” when the narrator says: “Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad I am not-and very surely do I not dream.” The stories of both of the protagonists are told in the first person and it is clear that both of these characters are slightly deranged. By using the first-person point of view, Poe has the uncanny ability to make his characters seem much more disturbed than they would appear if the story wasn’t told in their own words.

There is a distinct similarity in the ironic endings in both “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat”. The one thing that both narrators thought would rid them of their paranoia would end up being the one thing that makes them even crazier. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” we can see this when the narrator says: “Villains! I shrieked, dissemble no more! I admit the deed! – tear up the planks! – hear, hear! – it is the beating of his hideous heart!” In “The Black Cat” the narrator doesn’t actually talk about killing his wife, instead he indirectly relates his wife’s death to what must be done to the cat. After killing the both cat and his wife in the same process he feels no pain or agony as if they were one person. Both of the narrators in these essays think that after killing their enemies they will be relieved of the tension that is bunching up inside of them, but in fact, it ultimately leads to their demise.

After the inevitable death of Virginia in January 1837 was devastated, but he was prepared to lose her so he continued writing and lecturing. In the summer of 49,’ he returned to Richmond and became reacquainted with Sarah Elmira Royster, who had become a wealthy widow. Their marriage was set for the following October. But Poe’s depression and inner conflicts led to heavier drinking. Edgar led a reckless life roaming the streets.

Last Days and Death

Poe sometimes took his brother’s identity to mislead his creditors and John Allan. This lifestyle finally caught up with on September 28, 1849, when he got off a train in Baltimore drunk, and running a high fever. He immediately went to his friend’s house, but he was not home. Poe wandered off and wasn’t seen for five days. A stranger found Poe semiconscious, stretched on a broad plank across some barrels on the sidewalk. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he lapsed into tremors and delirium and eventually a coma. On the morning of the second day, he was much calmer but suddenly began ratings which continued through the following Saturday night. 5 am on Sunday morning, October the 7th Poe raised his head for the last time and said: “Lord help my poor soul.”

He died alone: His fiancée had no idea where he was and neither did his once caretaker Mrs. Clemm. He was buried in Baltimore’s Presbyterian cemetery the next day. Nevertheless, he continued to produce successful work despite his depression. A year later, however, Poe was found half-conscious on October 30 in a stupor near a saloon. He died in a hospital four days later, and to this day, nobody knows the cause of his death.

Poe’s last words express everything of his life. Even though he was a proud man not showing much weakness, he begged God to save his soul. He probably knew that he was insane regularly, and in his writings, but he probably let himself express his tragedies to the world as revenge for his terrible life. That may be one of the reasons why he didn’t commit suicide. If one were depressed as much as Poe, they would usually choose death over the living. His obsession with “death” results in writing many mysteries or stories involved with murder, disease, suicide, etc. Some of his writings are very astonishing and sometimes even lunatic, but it is not even close to his life experience. (Bloom, 1985) There were ten important people in his life that either died or left Poe abruptly. These catastrophes one by one damaged Poe’s ability to organize his emotions in his brain, and eventually destroyed it, resulting in Poe making so many mysteries.

Conclusion

Edgar Allen Poe could have been passed as a bum. He was a full-time drunk and a drug addict, but his ingenious mind led to some of the best pieces of literature we know today. His works are widely used in schools in North America and will always be around to show people how smart this man really was. Although he suffered from severe alcoholism along with drug abuse Poe was a very wise man and we can tell this from the work we read by him today. Not only are his short stories perfectly structured, but they can grab your attention like that of few other authors. Because Poe had many dramatic events in his life – which in turn caused his mental instability – his works were affected by life experiences. Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” are reflections of his life as are all of his works.

Edgar A. Poe was not only a poet, but also an acclaimed author, critic, and editor. He, in my opinion, is one of the greatest poets of all time because he didn’t follow the norm and went out on his own to do what he loved. He wrote about things that he genuinely felt during the times in his life that were the hardest. Edgar Allen Poe was very fun to write a paper on, and my sources were very informative.

Even though Poe writes such bizarre tales he is never quite taken in with them. He fears but is at the same time skeptical. He is frantic but at the same time lucid. It is not until the very end that Poe was consumed by something, and died. It might have been fear or something worse, something that could only be scraped up from the bottom of a nightmare. That is what killed him.

Poe’s stories contain within them a fascination for death, decay, and insanity. He also displays very morbid characteristics and in some cases, sadistic. His murderers always seem to delight in killing their victims in the most painful and agonizing way. Still, terror seems to be the main theme. That is what Poe tries to bring about in his stories. For example, in “The Fall of the House of Usher” what kills Roderick Usher is the sheer terror of his sister who appeared to have come back from the dead. He is now acclaimed as one of the greatest writers in American history. It is indeed a pity that he will never know or care.

Poe displays horror throughout all of his stories. A person will kill another, as in the case of The Tell-Tale Heart where the insane man kills his neighbor because of his glass eye. After he strangles his neighbor to death, he dismembers him and buries him beneath the floorboards to cover up for his crime. Poe also writes of mentally different people as in The Cask of Amontillado. The story tells of a man who sets a drunkard between two walls and then seals the walls up, leaving the drunkard to die from starvation and dehydration. This man is also crazy, he starts off the story by saying “¦ when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” Average human beings would not vow revenge solely due to an insult, mentally ill people, on the other hand, would be more apt to do this.

Edgar Allan Poe is a creative writer who not only displays his ability to write horror stories but also is able to exhibit the moral and psychological realities of life. Generations will be born and generations will die, but throughout time Edgar Allan Poe will still be one of the best writers of the macabre in American history.

References

Bloom, Harold, Ed. Modern Critical Views on Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.

Buranelli, Vincent. Edgar Allan Poe. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1977.

Lawrence D.H. Modern Critical Views on Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.

May, Charles. Edgar Allan Poe: a study of the short fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1991.

Meltzer, Milton. Edgar Allan Poe: A biography. Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books, 2003.

Peeples, Scott. Edgar Allan Poe revisited / Scott Peeples. New York: Twayne Publishers; London: Prentice Hall International, 1998.

Pickering, James. Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Stories. NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Vintage Books, 1975.

Tilton, Rafael. Edgar Allan Poe / by Rafael Tilton. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2003.

“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger should be taught in High school because this work includes the psychological moments appropriate to the age of high school.

J.D. Salinger is one of the most famous representatives of the New York literary school of 1940 – 60-ies of the XX-th century. His works which are a little bit nervous and emotional surrender the reader in to the limits of the world he does not want to leave. Every character is lonely among the people; he is lonely in his unique nature and unusual understanding of the world.

Literature is very individual thing and everybody understands it in different ways. That is why the age for learning the literary texts is different. But think that it is very important to define the appropriate age. Every teacher should take into account this moment. In addition the social position of every pupil should also be taken into consideration in order to find the best way of explanation of the events that take part in the work.

“The Catcher in the Rye” is the American bestseller of the post-war period, but this novel is of current issue even today. The main character of the novel Holden Caulfield goes against social values of that time and tries to save the human individuality and personal features. In order to embody this idea the author of the novel uses the special lexicon, which is highly emotional – the dialect of teen-agers (slang), rich of special words and curses: “Even the couple of nice teachers on the faculty, they were phonies, too. There was this one old guy, Mr. Spencer. His wife was always giving you hot chocolate and all that stuff, and they were really pretty nice.” So, it is very interesting for teen-agers to read something that is very close to their life, and especially when it is possible to speak about this with their teacher at the lesson.

The second moment that is going to prove the statement is that there are many interesting situations in the book that are close to the life of teen-agers. For example many of them want to leave their house because of some problems with their parents and the book shows all the results of this.

The main character is ‘ill with maximalism’ and it is really so and many young people of such age suffer the same. In that age every person wants to treat society of many diseases and as a result it appears that it is impossible. That is the main disappointment of life.

The book shows the family relationship and the problem of trust and understanding: “I said I’m not going back to school. You can do what you want to do, but I’m not going back to school,’ she said. “so, shut up” It was the first time she ever told me to shut up. It sounded terrible. God, it sounded terrible. It sounded worse than swearing. She still would not look at me either, and every time I sort of put my hand on her shoulder or something, she would not let me”. These are the words from the talk of brother and sister and it is possible to say that they afraid to lose each other because they appreciate family relationship and love.

I think that this book would bring everything the young people need though he language they understand best of all and that is why this book should be taught in high school.

Du Bois was very good at many traits for instance he was a civil rights activist, a professor of Sociology, a writer, and in addition to this, he also tried his hands at many more things. When he was 95 years of age, he became a citizen of Ghana. Du Bois actively involved himself in solving the long-standing problem of racism; he also aimed at equality and did a lot of things to ensure the existence of human rights. The souls of Black Folk is counted among the very finest works of his, the book deals with the sensitive issue of racism that still exists in various parts of the world. Du Bois successfully published as many as 4000 articles, essays, and books in his life span of 95 years. This paper will throw light upon one of his most prominent works, The Souls of Black Folk. An in-depth analysis of the book will be presented in this paper.

The Souls of Black Folk was published in the year 1903 and the book consists of fourteen chapters. The most exceptional thing about this book is that the Author has exceptionally started each chapter of the book with lines of poetry and bars of songs; this is unprecedented and certainly catches the eye of the reader. The book has stanzas of poetry by some of the most appreciated poets like Byron, Lowell, etc, so it is a good mix of American and European Poets together with the contribution of Du Bois which without a doubt stands out.

The Bars of songs used in the book are outstanding and represent the various achievements of African Americans. The author discusses the problem of the color line in the twentieth century; this problem is the highlight of the book. The color line refers to racism and it was a brilliant effort by the author to write a book on this topic. The author was a social activist and had many more qualities in him; the book is an example of how good he was when it came to writing and inspiring people. Racism was at its very peak at that time and authors like Du Bois did an excellent job by highlighting this issue which still exists in our society. James Weldon Johnson declared that the book had a significant impact on the Negro Race in America after but this was done 3o years after the book was published, this goes show the effect of the book, add to this it also goes to show the impact that Du Bois made by writing The Souls of Black Folk.

The book got a lot of adulation and respect and brought a significant change in the life of the Negroes, the book inspired them to toil hard and to rise intellectually so that they can live a better life, the same happened and the black freedom struggle began in the twentieth century. Du Bois certainly succeeded in all his endeavors, he aimed at bringing justice and equality in the society and he managed to achieve just that hence it is very fair to say that the book is flawless and highly inspiring especially for the oppressed people all across the globe.

References

Bois, W. E., & Edwards, B. H. (2008). The souls of Black folk. Oxford University Press.