Stalking the Night Away

Pg 139 ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’

“Crying out—‘who’s there?’ I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening—just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.”

            Edgar Allen Poe must have stalked a man himself, as I can picture no other writer using such detail and precision to describe how the narrator was watching the man. He is able to constantly bring the book to life. He displays how patient the narrator is, how determined he is to rid the man of the disgusting ‘vulture-like’ eye. He writes with such passion that it is hard to not be enticed and hooked. The image put into your mind when he writes ‘I did not move’ shows how he created such a determined and demonic character. ‘Night after night’ he has watched this man. Every night for quite some time creating demonic and twisted thoughts for the reader as they now realize that some crazy man, could be capable of watching me too. Poe brings out mans deepest fears and displays them with such detail that the reader is almost too frightened to continue on.