...them. Although people should never assume, they should always speculate and investigate. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe uses an imperfectly informed narrator because he wanted the reader to play with – and question – reality, to use their senses and imagination, and be able to tell the difference between dreams and reality. One theory on why Poe makes his narrator limited is that he wants the reader to search for the truth, not just have it handed to them. For instance, the reader – nor the narrator – knows anything about Roderick Usher. The narrator says, “Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet I really knew little of my friend”. What, then, would cause the narrator to travel to the House of Usher after Roderick had written him a letter? A person such as the narrator can only truly call Usher an acquaintance. In reality, who would drop everything and anything for an associate? The unknown information on Roderick Usher only causes more questions that, in the end, still remain unanswered. Little by little, as the tale goes on, the reader, as well as the narrator, discovers that Roderick and his late sister, lady Madeline, are twins. After nights of turmoil, Madeline appears to the narrator and Usher, who she ends up killing. The death of the twins causes the Usher House to fall. One can only wonder why the death of the inhabitants would cause a house to crumble. James W. Gargano says that, “Through the irony of his characters' self-betrayal and...
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...the story. In the short stories “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe the setting affects the characters and storyline. The setting in the two short stories have many similarities throughout the settings. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” both talk about nature in their settings. Examples are, "Tom had long been picking his way cautiously through this treacherous forest; stepping from tuft to tuft of rushes and roots, which afforded precarious footholds among deep sloughs; or pacing carefully, like a cat, along the prostrate trunks of trees; startled now and then by the sudden screaming of the...
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... 05/20/11 The Death of The Usher Family and the Detective Styles of Dupin Edgar Allen Poe is considered to be the “father of horror” and the creator of detective fiction. Even though most of his stories fall under horror and detective, they each use different elements to show off gothic and romantic themes. Two of Poe’s short stories are “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Both of these short stories are written by Poe but they are however very different. “The Fall of the House of Usher” has a lot more gothic and romantic elements such as death and incest, while “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” included a lot more detective and analytical elements, so even though they are both written by Poe, they are very different pieces of literature. One literary element that these two short stories have in common is that they both use foreshadowing to help the reader see what is going to happen in the future. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the Usher House has a fissure that starts at the bottom and is slowly making its way to the top. Surrounding the house there is a very gloomy and dark appearance and landscape. All of these details foreshadows what may happen throughout the story. From these few descriptions we can assume that the story is going to be very gloomy story and that there are bad things that will happen within the house. In “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” we...
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...Bradbury’s story, major themes include the influence censorship has on societies, the violent nature of human beings, and the discovery of self identity. Many of the themes in Poe’s stories include the effect of the loss of a loved one and the impacts of death on others. While the themes are not completely connected, Bradbury uses the death of one of Montag’s neighbors to spark a disgust in his current society which in turn leads to his discovery of his self identity. The violent nature of human beings drove others to kill Montag’s neighbor through a violent car chase. In stories such as “The Fall of The House...
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...Many young women die in Poe’s stories, one of the most famous being “Annabel Lee”. The similarities between the two include Annabel marrying young, being struck with illness, and the man not only loving her, but worshipping her. Another story being “The Black Cat”, where the beloved wife died due to the husband himself killing her. “Uplifting an axe, forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed in my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demonical, I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and I buried the axe in her brain.” There are so many parallels between the deaths around him and his stories, that they can’t be coincidental, they must’ve influenced...
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...the middle name of Allan and came to be known as Edgar Allan Poe. In 1815, the Allans along with Edgar traveled to England, where Edgar began to attend school. In 1815, he attended Grammar School in Irvine, Scotland, and in a boarding school in Chelsea in 1817. After that, he attended the Reverend John Bransby’s Manor House School at Stoke Newington near London. In 1826, he joined the University of Virginia, but he left within a year. Although the Allans were quite well off, John Allan would not give Edgar much money for his survival in college. To make up for the less money, Edgar began to gamble and lost heavily. His gambling debts created further rifts between him and John Allan. Poe was poor and needed money. So he joined the United States Army under the assumed name of Edgar A. Perry. He served for two years and attained the rank of Sergeant Major. In 1829, Poe moved to Baltimore, Maryland to live with his widowed aunt Maria Clemm and his cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm. His elder brother Henry was also living with them. The same year, Poe’s foster mother, Francis Allan, passed away. She made a dying request with John Allan to reconcile the differences between him and Poe. So John Allan obtained a commission for Poe to enter the...
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...its narcissistic fantasy. In the Lacanian context, the eye allows the self to see itself as a unified creature and as a judge, hence the eye is essentially related to the imaginary "identity-building" process. However, as the eye sees what it wants to see, "sight" or "insight" can mean bias. As noted by Ellie Ragland, the eye gives a narcissistic perspective of "unification and fusion" that does not guarantee truth, though it certainly offers a personal "principle of law or judgment" (95). In the story, the eye's bias shows itself when the narrator immediately views the old man's disease in a negative light. The old man's cataract is seen to be the "Evil Eye" (89). If we borrow Martin Buber's concept, we may as well call it the "I-Thou difference." John Cleman believes that the narrator's mental condition is crucial in leading to this conclusion. He quotes Isaac Ray and points out that "madness is not indicated so much by any particular extravagance of thought or feeling, as by a well-marked change of character or departure from the ordinary habits of thinking, feeling and acting, without any adequate external cause”. However, humans do not need to be mad to slight others and prefer...
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...PREFACE This major project examines the indispensable desiderata of Transcendentalism in comparison to the Dark Romantics background and how these technicalities prepare this work of art as an influential synthesis of human imagination incorporated with mystic facts. Transcendentalism and Dark Romanticism were two literary movements that occurred in America during roughly the same time period (1840—1860). Although the two had surface similarities, such as their reverence for Nature, their founding beliefs were quite different, enough to make one seem almost the antithesis of each other. Moreover one’s genesis is ventured out from other; i.e. Dark Romanticism from the roots of Transcendentalism or precisely the lacunae are best determined for raising up the term called Dark Romanticism. Contents S. No. Page no. Chapter 1.........................................................................................................4-14 Chapter 2.........................................................................................................15-23. Chapter 3..........................................................................................................24-27 Resolution.........................................................................................................28-29 Work Cited................................................................
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...times before he became a teenager. He loved literature and writing, and he showed that in his education academy that he attended. Not many people know this, but Poe was fairly athletic. He was a boxer, leaper, and even a swimmer. One hot summer, June day her swam six miles in the James River. February 1826, Poe went to the University of Virginia, were he learned Latin and French and of course excelled in both. While in Richmond, Virginia he became engaged to Elmira Royster. Elmira’s father disagreed with them getting together and interrupted all of Poe’s letters that he wrote to her, Poe was left waiting for a reply. Edgar Allan Poe lived only forty years. He made an eternal place in the American literature world. Money was always an issue between Poe and...
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...national literature. Early Life With his short stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe captured the imagination and interest of readers around the world. His creative talents led to the beginning of different literary genres, earning him the nickname "Father of the Detective Story" among other distinctions. His life, however, has become a bit of mystery itself. And the lines between fact and fiction have been blurred substantially since his death. The son of actors, Poe never really knew his parents. His father left the family early on, and his mother passed away when he was only three. Separated from his siblings, Poe went to live with John and Frances Allan, a successful tobacco merchant and his wife, in Richmond, Virginia. He and Frances seemed to form a bond, but he never quite meshed with John. Preferring poetry over profits, Poe reportedly wrote poems on the back of some of Allan's business papers. Money was also an issue between Poe and John Allan. When Poe went to the University of Virginia in 1826, he didn't receive enough funds from Allan to cover all his costs. Poe turned to gambling to cover the difference, but ended up in debt. He returned home only to face another personal setback—his neighbor and fiancée Elmira Royster had become engaged to someone else. Heartbroken and frustrated, Poe left the Allans. Career Beginnings At first, Poe seemed to be harboring twin aspirations. Poe published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems in 1827, and he had joined the army around...
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...Beso, Luiz Miguel B. BSE EN 2-1 Literature Students are asked to write literary analysis essays because this type of assignment encourages you to think about how and why a poem, short story, novel, or play was written. To successfully analyze literature, you’ll need to remember that authors make specific choices for particular reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s choices and attempt to explain their significance. Another way to look at a literary analysis is to consider a piece of literature from your own perspective. Rather than thinking about the author’s intentions, you can develop an argument based on any single term (or combination of terms) listed below. You’ll just need to use the original text to defend and explain your argument to the reader. Allegory - narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait (i.e. greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. Although allegory was originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to parallel story and theme. William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man’s struggle to contain his inner primal instincts District 9- South African Apartheid X Men- the evils of prejudice Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking “racial purity” Character - representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human activities...
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...speech was the formation on League of Nations which will usher in justice, peace, freedom and concord. The major participants in the formation of the league of the nation were the Great Britain, France, and the United States of America to preserve the future global peace and forestall such conflicts like first world war. (University of Virginia, Online: 2009)The League was based on the covenant which was written into the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties and provided for an assembly, a council and a secretariat with each section vested with a task to help the league maintain peace (UNOG, Online: 2009) Franklin D. Roosevelt the President of the United States of America, Winston Churchill the Prime Minister of the Great Britain and other notable leaders reasoned that the destructive consequences of WW2 warranted the call to form an international organization which would play a vital role in achieving the global peace. (US Department of States, Online:2005 and National Archives, Online: 2009) Hence, the United Nations replaced the League of the Nations after the demise of the latter. They both shared almost similar concept and ideological views for international peace delivered through an international body. (Rit, 2009) In this essay the author will analyze the birth of League of Nations and its achievement and failures. Furthermore, the formation of the United Nations and the relationship between President Woodrow Wilson league of nation and the...
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...Burma Road Riot occurred. This event was destined to change the social, economic and political fabric of life in The Bahamas.In this article, Sir Randol F. Fawkes (1924-2000), better known as the Father of Labour in The Bahamas, gives an eyewitness account of the day he saw “hundreds of ragged, black workers moving downhill towards us. I thought all the gates of hell hand opened and the demons let loose.”Sir Randol Francis Fawkes was knighted by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11 for the contribution he made to the development of trade unionism in The Bahamas. Sir Randol Fawkes, elder statesman, attorney-at-law, free trade unionist, civil rights activist, sportsman, author and musician, changed the course of Bahamian history when he helped to usher in majority rule in the country in 1967. In August 1940, by a strange set of circumstances, the former Liege Lord, Edward the Eighth by the Grace of God, of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, became the fifty-fifth Governor of The Bahama Islands. This was the second exile for the embattled Duke of Windsor. On December 10th, 1936, this uncrowned Monarch, having abdicated the British throne for the woman he loved, adopted France as his new home rather than return to England and be pushed into the bottom drawer by the high society of Buckingham Palace. Later, when France collapsed under the muddy heels of Germany’s storm troopers, Winston Churchill offered...
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...Name- Student name- Tutor name- Week 2 I have gone through first part of all the stories and decided to make the folio based on ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ as it sounds really interesting to me. After reading thoroughly the first part of the story, I can say that Mr. Morris, Sargeant-Major has gone through some rough and brutal phase for which he holds ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ guilty and responsible. There was some bitter fact that he hides from his friend, Mr. White though he warns him about the misfortune. As for Mr. White, I felt that he is curious to know about the truth behind ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ but at the same time somewhere down the line he has a greed of getting more by making wish to ‘The Monkey’s Paw’. Whilst Mrs. White and his son takes this issue in a humorous and light way. From the very beginning author has set the mood of the story as suspicious and mysterious which fills the mind of the reader with a surge to reveal the unknown. From the suspicious environment created, it can be predicted easily that some ghosts and haunting is coming on the way. Very cleverly author revealed that there is some misfortune related to the history of the monkey’s paw and a holy man has spelled something over the mummified paw of monkey but what is that misfortune? Also, what was happening upstairs after Mr. White wished for the first thing? These are yet unsolved questions. Reading the very first part of the story, I can say that the story is filled with thrills, unexpected...
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...day wasted. In the end I realized that I wasn’t getting anywhere; thoughts started to grow that I never would get anywhere. I’m so sorry for this, and I hope that things won’t change too drastically for all of you. For the last time, Alexander Buchanan.” Blinding white light filled my vision. I raised my hand to block out the intense rays that seemed to permeate through my skin itself, as when I closed my eyes I could still see the light through my eyelids. The light seemed to lessen in intensity a moment later and I felt a hand on the side of my own which was facing the blinding rays. My eyes opened as my hand was gently lowered, revealing a near exact copy of myself standing in front of me. He stood eye to eye with me, the only difference being in the color of our clothes. Mine were a pure white that matched the blank landscape around us. In fact, the only color in the entire place seemed to come from both of our hair and eyes, along with his clothes. The t-shirt and jeans he wore were an intense black, the color seeming to suck the light out of the air around him, creating a kind of aura of darkness. Blue eyes stared into each other, and light brown hair rippled lightly in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. “Who are you?” I questioned, feeling terror pulse through my veins as the copy of me had been silent this whole time. In fact, his lips still didn’t move when he responded to me. “My name is Azrael. I am the Angel of Death. I was sent by God to greet you Alexander...
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