fascination with this particular writing. If you are familiar with this short story, please give me some feed back on why I think this story was written for me. Diagnose me, pull me apart in pieces, but just explain to me the best way you can, why I have loved this since I was in school, which was decades ago. I still have it and read it every so often. I do like some of this other work, but this one is stuck in my head.
If you have not read it, please do, and answer my question as honestly as you can.
Am I really a happy person or am I fooling myself.
Please don't tell me to go to a Psychologist, because I do go from time to time, when needed. Thank you.
2006-10-12 04:26:22 · 10 answers · asked by Boricua Born 5 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Yeah, I know the stigma associated with liking Poe. The Tell Tale Heart is not my favorite (my favorite being The Cask of the Amontillado), but like you, it has stuck with me since I first read it in Jr. High School. I can’t tell you why you love this one the most, but I can tell you why I do (perhaps there are similarities).
One is that the person telling the story is obviously insane.
He doesn’t know he is crazy, in fact, his insanity fuels his over inflated view of himself (“True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses--not destroyed--not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heavens and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?”). Insanity has always fascinated me for some reason. The fact that your thinking process can be askew and you are not even aware of it. If that isn’t frightening, I don’t know what is.
It’s also in how Poe tells this story. It is so vivid! You can feel the old man’s terror and the madman’s insanity. Plus this man who considers himself so smart, is his own undoing. I like the irony in the story. There are reasons I can’t even dig up. The story is disturbing but fascinating at the same time.
Many people have the same reaction you do over this story. Poe even considered this the best story he ever wrote. As dark as he was he carried a message in all of his works. I don't think there is anything wrong with you and I'm sure you are a very happy person!
2006-10-12 05:03:47 · answer #1 · answered by yiqqahah 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You don't need to be diagnosed. There's nothing wrong with liking Edgar Allen Poe's writing. Obviously, there are many who would agree with you- that's why his writings are famous. Tell Tale Heart is also my favorite story by Poe. If you think about it, it's like the guy felt guilty for what he did. Hearing that beating heart...which of course was his own. We've all done things that we felt guilty for. Maybe we tried to cover it up but our own guilt brought it out into the open. Don't feel badly for being a human being. You're not sick for liking that story!
2006-10-12 04:58:09 · answer #2 · answered by gotanswers 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A couple of insightful answers above. you have to realize that Poe has been a favorite author of millions of people.. We all recognize something of ourselves in the Telltale Heart. We've all been guilty of something and plagues by that guilt. My question is whether the detective is an idiot or a genius. But we can only guess at that because the story is told from the POV of the murderer.
I believe they should make the story into a movie starring Johnny Depp as the murderer (how great would that be?) and Sean Connery as the detective. Two great talents. Depp would be riveting and Connery would be delightful.
2006-10-12 04:53:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think I am a happy person and I love Poe's writing as well. Am I fooling myself too? I don't know. But I do think that we are, perhaps, more in touch with all aspects of life/ourselves. We are probably not "Pollyanna" happy - always super positive. (At least, I'm not.) But I am "realistically" happy - does that make sense? I believe that good things can and do happen - but that there are bad things in the world as well.
Thanks for the question, I'm going to re-read some of Poe's works :-)
2006-10-12 04:47:07 · answer #4 · answered by tigglys 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I also love Poe. I have a fat little book of his poems and short stories. That is also one of my favorite stories, as is the Black cat. Very dark, both of them. I hope you don't relate to the exact storyline, since it is about a murderer who tells on himself out of his overwhelming guilt. But, rather you probably feel guilt about everyday types of things you do that you consider bad, then tell on yourself and look for forgiveness or maybe even enjoy punishment in a self deprocating way. I am not a psycologist, so I don't think it is reasonable for me to diagnose you without training. But, I hope this helps you think about the possible connection you feel with this story.
2006-10-12 04:39:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
ok I hate it when I ask a question and people use to many words for some thing short. So i'm not likely to try this to you. The narrator is the murderer He p.c. that narration by way of fact it places the reader in that physique of concepts and gets the readers heart racing and makes the reader prefer to coach the web site to ascertain what happens next.
2016-10-16 02:53:29 · answer #6 · answered by goodgion 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I really do love to see people who love Edgar Allan Poe..I named my daughter after 2 of his poems...The Raven and Annabel Lee..He touches us on such a deep level, it almost seems like you can feel his pain.
2006-10-12 04:59:59 · answer #7 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
oh good story......I think everybody that is living is fooling them selves about being happy...including you and I ....How can we be happy really happy when our children are being killed in school and our loved ones and men and children are being murdered for fighting for a country they believe in.....Most people thing Edgar Allen Poe is off of his rocker....I am included in this opinion..the only difference about him and I is that he writes it down and lets everyone know he is a spook ...Maybe that is what you and I should be doing ......you think??????
2006-10-12 04:37:26 · answer #8 · answered by thunder_rainclouds 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure because I love his writing and I don't know exactly why I like it.
I've got like three or four huge books of his work and things to explain his work. I think, 'why wonder, just enjoy'.
2006-10-12 04:47:59 · answer #9 · answered by Oui_Fleur 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
remember one thing. he was born after his mother died. digest that fact if you will.
2006-10-12 06:51:38 · answer #10 · answered by cadaholic 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋