Making Meanings
The Tell-Tale Heart
Reading Check
Poe’s story provides only limited information; some of the information is suspect because the only source is an unreliable
narrator. Write down three questions you would like to ask a more reliable source. Explain how each question would help you better understand the
motivations behind the murder.
First Thoughts
1. Go back to your reading notes. Did the story turn out the way you predicted? Did
previewing the story help you make accurate predictions? Why or why not?
Shaping Interpretations
2. To whom might the narrator be telling his story? Where do you think he is as he tells it?
3. The narrator tries desperately to convince his listener that he is sane. What evidence does he give? How do his arguments actually demonstrate his madness?
4. How does the opening paragraph foreshadow, or hint at, the events of the story?
5. What is your explanation for the “heartbeat” noise that drives the narrator to confess? Draw on evidence from the text to support your opinion.
6. Why is this story called “The Tell-Tale Heart,” in your opinion? (Can you think of more than one meaning for the title?)
7. The mood, or atmosphere, is the overall feeling in a story. For example, the mood might be happy or sad or scary. Writers create mood by piling up carefully chosen details. How would you describe the mood of this story? What details does Poe use to create that mood?
Connecting with the Text
8. What, if anything, did you find scary, unsettling, or otherwise memorable about this story? Explain what you think this story shares with other stories that scare people.
Writer’s Notebook
1. Collecting Ideas for a Character Analysis
What kind of person is the narrator? Reread the story looking for details that reveal the nature of this strange man. Gather your notes under headings such as these:
• what he says
• what he does
• what his conflicts are
• what his motivation seems to be
When you have gathered your details, make a generalization, and name at least three character traits you find in this person. Collect your data as if you were a psychiatrist who is trying to put together a profile of the murderer’s personality.
Creative Writing
2. Scene of the Crime
Imagine that you are one of the police officers who responded to the neighbor’s call. Write a
report to be filed after you return to the station. Explain the circumstances of the investigation and what you found when you arrived on the scene. Include descriptions of the suspect’s appearance and of your impressions. When did the suspect’s behavior begin to strike you as odd?
Art
3. Hollywood Poe
Make a poster advertising a movie version of “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Who will play each of these roles?
• the narrator
• the old man
• the police officers
Choose an exciting scene from the story to illustrate your poster. Will you use the original title or invent one that you think would attract a larger audience? What
mood will your poster create?
Choices: Building Your Portfolio
Keeping Tense Consistent
Like most writers, Poe tells his story in the past tense; the events have already happened.
“It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not?”
Writers sometimes choose to tell a story in the present tense instead, to make the reader feel as if the events are happening right now:
It grows louder—louder—louder! And still the men chat pleasantly, and smile. Is it possible they hear not?
Whichever tense you choose to write in, use it consistently. Either the events happened before, or they’re happening now. You’ll confuse your reader if you switch tenses repeatedly:
It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men chat pleasantly, and smile. Was it possible they heard not?
When are the men chatting—after the story is over? By keeping tense consistent, you allow your reader to concentrate on the events of the story, rather than on trying to figure out when they occurred.
| WORD BANK | Editing Edgar: Searching for Synonyms |
| acute vexed sagacity refrained wary suavity audacity vehemently gesticulations derision |
Imagine that you are the editor of a magazine for teenagers. You want to include “The Tell-Tale Heart” in your Spooky Stories issue, but you think Poe’s vocabulary is too hard and old-fashioned.
Find the sentences in the story in which these words appear (look for hyperlinked vocabulary words), and copy the sentences onto a blank sheet of paper. Rewrite each sentence to make it easier. Substitute more commonly known words or phrases for the Word Bank words as well as for any other difficult words in the sentence. To locate
synonyms—words with similar meanings—use a thesaurus (a dictionary of synonyms), a
synonym finder, or a thesaurus that is part of your computer’s software. |
Click here to navigate through: The Tell-Tale Heart.
----