Essay Instructions
Essay is a Subjective Literary Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Tell-Tale Heart". This short story belongs to the horror/mystery genre of fiction. It was written in 1843, and it tells of a man's obsession with an old man, in particular, the old man's eye.
It is a short story filled with symbolism and psychological drama, so after you have read the text, you will compose a 5-8 paragraph essay (Introduction-Body-Conclusion) analyzing and explaining if, in fact, the narrator's actions are those of a madman or a sane man who knows how to play a madman. You decide.
Your essay is NOT a summary; in fact, none of your writing for this course is a summary. I do not expect you to re-tell the story (plot).
Your essays are designed to present your opinion(s) on the literature and encourage the reader (me) to understand your opinions, criticisms, observations, and analyses.
Your essays will involve "explication" which is essentially the "taking apart" of the reading selection and referencing specific lines/sentences and paragraphs to support your stance/thesis.