Poe Response

I think the short story that I enjoyed the most out of all the selections picked by the groups would have to be "The Tell Tale Heart". I almost found it comical how the narrator is trying to convince the reader that he is not mad because he has thought through everything in order to kill the old man. However, by him telling the reader all these things, it just further reinforces how mad he really is. I believe I also like it because it is very suspenseful to me. When the old man wakes and asks who is there while the narrator waits patiently and quietly is very suspenseful to me because I didn't know what was going to happen. Also I found the ending suspenseful as well because as the police are carrying on with their conversations about where the old man went, we see the decent into madness of the narrator as he believes that the police will hear the beating of the dead man's heart from under the floor boards. I also found it interesting that he could not kill the old man when his eyes were closed because as he said "it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye". I think this would be a good little short story to use in the classroom as a part of a short story unit. I believe it is short enough and interesting enough to keep kids engaged and offers material for students to have discussions about the nature of the narrator's actions. One theme that could be discussed is that of paranoia and the students could look for contextual evidence in order to support whether or not they believe the narrator to be mad or paranoid. I think that this piece also offers a cool opportunity for the teacher to do an expressive reading of the piece by taking on the tone and personality of the narrator.