Genre: Fiction

Critique: This story is an excellent example of fiction because the people, place, and plot are all fictional, and there are unrealistic aspects within the book (such as the main character's insanity convincing him that the old man's heart was still beating) but it is presented in a believable manner

Summary: A man decides that he can no longer stand the old gentleman he works for, and ends up murdering him, cutting his body into poeces, and stowing it beneath the floorboards. Soon the police come to investigate, and the murderer is convinced, due to his insanity, that the old man's heart is still beating beneath the floorboards, louder and louder, and fearing it will give him away, the murderer confesses to the crime and is taken away.

Media: Pen/ink or maybe woodcut ( )

Scholastic is a publisher for school age readers. I think many children go through an Edgar Allen Poe phase, as I did. Poe is an excellent writer and this slim volume introduces ten mysteries. I do hope it inspires young readers to explore more of Poe's works, especially the poetry. ( )

* The Murders in the Rue Morgue - A rather silly Holmes-esque mystery tale.
* The Purloined Letter - Not bad, but far too wordy.
* The Tell-Tale Heart - Funnier than I'd remembered. One of my all-time favorites.
* The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - Enjoyably bizarre.
* The Pit and the Pendulum - A delightful tale of suspense.
* A Tale of the Ragged Mountains - Kind of weird. I'm not sure if I liked it or not.
* A Descent into the Maelstrom - Not too memorable.
* The Black Cat - Deliciously disturbing.
* "Thou Art the Man" - Clever but very predictable.
* Metzengerstein - I'm not sure I entirely understand what happened in this one. ( )

Tony Washington
Summer Reading Essay

Ten Great Mysteries by Edgar Allen Poe

For my choice book essay I chose to read Ten great Mysteries by Edgar allen Poe. This book is a collection of many of his mostly know stories. The stories include: The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter; The Tell Tale Heart; The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar; The Pit and the Pendulum: A Tale of the Ragged Mountains; A descent into the Maelstrom; The Black Cat ; Thou Art the Man; Metzengerstein. I have read every story in this book but I will only elaborate on three of the stories that I thought were the best to read which will be The Tell Tale Heart , The Pit and the Pendulum .
The Tell Tale Heart tells a story of a man who is a servant to a wealthy old man. The man starts by saying he has no desire for the old mans wealth or any of his material possessions but states that the old man has one thing the he cant stand ,it is the old mans evil eye, not the old man himself but the evil eye. The man says that it urks him whenever the old mans evil eye gazes apon him and makes his blood run cold. The man quickly resolves to kill the old man to rid him self of the evil eye. He enter the bedroom of the old man intent on murdering him but fail as he makes a noise and startles the old man into staying up the whole night. The man goes in the old mans bed room again another night and is successful in killing the old man, The man is happy to be rid of the evil eye and starts to dispose of him By putting his body parts under the floor boards of the old mans bedroom. Just as the man thinks he is home free, there is a knock at the door. It’s the police coming to investigate a compliant from the neighbors claiming they heard noise. The man quickly composes himself and answers the door. He lets the police search the house and the become satisfied with the search and decide to chat .At this point they are at the exact murder scene just chatting. The man is fine with it at first until they overstay their welcome. Then he starts to hear loud thumping and perceives it to be the old mans heart still beating. The beating gets more intense and the man cant take it anymore . He tears the floor boards up and reveals what he has done to the police officers. Thus the story ends.
This particular story is one of Poes most famous stories. One thing I notice while reading this story and the rest of the book is that Poe likes to describe actions and feelings very intensely. I found myself reading two or three lines over again to get what he was describing. “ One of his resembled that of a vulture – a pale blue eye with a film over it . Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold :” Overall this story was written very well in my eyes. It kept me very interested in the story.
Pit and the Pendulum is a unique story to me. I really liked the story because it provide vivid word and actions allowed me to image what is going on in the story. The story is about a man who is captured during the Inquisition. He is condemned to death and is sent to a prison. The man blacks out many times while he is in the prison. After one black out he awakens to figure out that he has been strapped to a table like surface . He notices a pendulum swinging above him. What he does not realize for a while is the end of the pendulum is razor sharp and it is moving towards him at a slow but constant rate. The man panics as he struggles to get. He notices rats crawling on the floor and gets them to come and chew his restraints of. He does this by rubbing food over the restraints . He escapes just in time. He notices that the pendulum stops when he escape and concludes that his captors are watching him. Soon after he escapes from the pendulum The walls surrounding him begin to heat up and move inward towards him. They get closer and closer as the man struggles between the choice of certainly getting killed by the moving wall or jump in the pit in the middle of the room with the water in it and let his death be unknown. The man starts to teeter into the pit . Just as he is on the verge of falling in a hand grabs him and pulls him out . He hears voices and booms. He figures that the French have take to prison in which he is confined in from the Spanish. The time slot for this story is during the Spanish inquisition and the prison he is in is at Toledo, which is know for,what the story says ,unimaginable things. I thought this story was ok. I found myself thinking of movies that are like this while reading this story.
This book is a very good collection of Poes great stories some of which im familiar with but with others im not. I recommend this book to anyone a fan of the mystery/horror or macabre genre. ( )

One wonders how much corpse-related research Poe did in order to come up with a fresh (er...) description of a decayed body for so many of his stories.

I remember hearing an audio recording of Poe stories when I was younger, and listening to a slow recitation by a baritone voice without being able to skip to the end or even see how many pages are left is a very different experience than reading the stories in the clear light of day. ( )