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Tale

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Submitted By itsjakeslife
Words 378
Pages 2
Jake Hartling
12/6/15
D – Block
“The Tell – Tale Heart” Response

Poe builds suspense by using several “tools of tension:” repetition, unreliable narrator, and. Edgar Allen Poe starts by building tension though the use of repetition. Repetition is used to intensify the drama, heighten the conflict, and to make an overall better story. In this story, it is in the description of the heart getting louder that there is lots of repetition. Poe could have written once, the beating heart grew louder” and then he simply could have moved on, but that wouldn’t be very intense nor wouldn’t intensify the drama. Compare that to “It grew louder –louder-louder!... and now – again! – hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!” Saying it over and over like that makes the situation seem much more direr, anxious, and helps the reader feel the narrator’s distress. Repetition is a great way to intensify the conflict, make it more real to the reader, and to prioritize the storyline to reader.
Poe also builds suspense by using an unreliable narrator. Poe’s use of the first person narrator helps build suspense. Poe uses first person point of view to his advantage in this story. Without the use of this point of view, “The Tell – Tale Heart” would not contain the flow and suspense it does. For example, right away our narrator addresses the reader,” True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" Here the reader is drawn right in to the story and the tension which lies ahead. The reader must decide is the man really mad? Is he reliable? What can be believed and what might be lies? All of these put the reader on edge. There is an anxiety of sorts that develops in the reader who wonders what the narrator will do. More tension is created as Poe's narrator wavers in his actions and thoughts, stating his love for the old man, while at the same time expressing horror for the "vulture eye." The narrator continues the unexpected as he explains his bizarre actions as wise: "Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this?" Finally, instead of an expected resolving of the plot, Poe's narrator reveals his deadly crime

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