Writing Prompts Honors English 3 Independent Reading Question ...

The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat
Choose two or all three
• When we read literature, we're accustomed to depending on the narrator to give us reliable
information. But what if we have reason not to trust the narrator In all three stories, Poe
presents us with a story of murder as told through the eyes of the murderer. Look closely at the
language the narrator uses to describe himself and the acts of violence that he commits. Can we
believe what he says, and to what extent Furthermore, why would Poe give us an unreliable
narrator
• The Romantic literature we've read in class has a distinctly isolated feeling - “The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” both take place in rural settings surrounded by vast
country side, and the bleak December night of “The Raven” leaves the reader with a distinct
feeling of loneliness and abandonment. Yet, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” are
implicitly urban, and “Cask of Amontillado”, which takes place in a crowded Italian city, is
explicitly urban. How does Poe accomplish the 'sensitive, isolated individual seeking the
beautiful and ideal' in these urban environments What effect does the environment seem to
have on the story, and how does it change what is defined as 'ideal'