Upon finishing "The Fall of the House of Usher", I realized that I am not an Edgar Alan Poe fan. His works, in my opinion, are incomplete. The three stories read left too much to the imagination. The stories are neither horrific nor terrifying. And I am left with the feeling I have after watching M. Night Shyamalan's movies; simply disturbed and extremely confused.
In "The Fall of the House Usher", the main character goes to visit an old friend who recently sent him a letter that left him feeling as if something seriously ailed sir Usher. The story is full of descriptions of the house and how Roderick Usher looks. It is not until the end that anything truly happens. It seems as if, from out of nowhere, lady Madelin of Usher "raises from the dead" and consumes Roderick Usher to his tomb. Why? Maybe I have read this story wrong but it just does not make sense. She is bloody because she was murdered? Was she intentionally buried alive? And why was the book modeling what was happening in real life? Was Madame Usher eaten by a dragon? I just do not know. And I feel that he does not say. She just comes back. Takes Roderick. And that's that.
The "Tell-Tale Heart" is not much better. The character continues to talk about this "pale blue eye" and how much he hated it. How much pain it brought him. But on the night of his death, it becomes all about the old man's heart. Why? As a reader, I was expecting the eye to have some kind of mystical power. Or for the eye to have some form of importance. But it did not. It was just something that bothered the character. I feel that it cannot only be assumed that it was this "vulture eye" that led our character to kill the old man, but it can be stated as true.
In the final story, "The Black Cat", I was honestly just about done with Poe. But I will say that this story, compared to the other stories, made more sense. The thing (the cat) that ailed him, ultimately brought about his demise. It could even be said that the "new cat" was the same cat, just "born again" with the white on its stomach to differentiate from the two. My only question would be, why did he have to kill his wife? But then, if he didn't kill his wife, the cat would have never gotten its revenge.
I just don't know. Did these stories frighten people because it was not the norm in society for people to be murderous? As I said, the stories were just very incomplete, in my opinion. As a reader, I felt that I needed to know more; about the characters, about what controlled them, what drove them, etc.
The horror behind Poe was simply having to read his work...
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Hi Dominique. I think its interesting that you think Poe's work seem incomplete. I feel as though "The Tell-Tale Heart" was very short! If you think about it though maybe that was a way of adding to the effect of the story. It was concise, planned, and impulsive like the actions of the narrator.
ReplyDeleteHey! Although I sort of ended up liking Poe's writings, I agree when you said you feel like he left too much up to the imigination and it was as if the story was incomplete. After i read that, I realized how many crazy questions that I had that I hadn't been able answer by the end of the story. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteHey Dominique,
ReplyDeleteYou did a really great job on your lead respondent. I really enjoyed watching the clips that you brought up on you tube. It helped me make the comparison between the movie and the book. It also cleared up some questions that i had about the story. Great Job!
Thank you Kim!
ReplyDeleteI don't know. When you are writing, you have all the power. You have the power to tell the reader what you want them to know, what you want them to see; just all of the control. I wanted more. Usher was lacking so much detail, in my opinion, and it was not until after I watched the movie that I could apprecite it. My only problem with the Tell was that Poe put so much detail into this "eye" and then, he puts the demise of the young boy at the hands of the old mans heart. It just didn't make sense to me... :0)