The Beat Goes On

 The Beat Goes On

Soundtrack for Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"

"Still Sane" by Lorde

This song entails fairly eerie music, eliciting a feeling of unease for the listener. It starts slow and gradually picks up more of a beat, which could also be foreshadowing the beating of the heart later on. This would best accompany the beginning of the story, as the narrator insists on his sanity. He continuously asks the reader “but why will you say that I am mad” and “How, then, am I mad?,” attempting to set the audience at ease, yet inadvertently instilling dissension (Poe 1). This song reflects the narrator’s attempt at these reassuring thoughts with lyrics also repeatedly reporting sanity. Lorde’s song also reflects the dissonance elicited by the off-putting declarations of sanity the narrator makes. The song has waves of crescendos and decrescendos, reflecting the ambiguously made remarks of the narrator.

"All Eyes on You" by St. Lucia

This song begins with a slow, echoing beat and gradually declares its presence as the chorus approaches. The artists voice also starts as if from a further distance from the microphone, slowly increasing intensity. This song would be best associated with the narrator’s nightly creep into the old man’s bedroom. Just as the song increasingly makes the audience more aware of it’s sound and presence, the narrator enters the old man’s bedroom “slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. (Poe 1).  This song would best apply to the 8^th night, when the narrator enters the room and finally sees the glimpse of the “Evil Eye.” After the slowly fading intro, the song’s chorus repeats the phrase “all eyes on you,” just as the narrator cautiously enters the chamber and finally views the man’s eye. As the beat picks up in the song, the old man’s heart also begins to beat, growing “louder, I say, louder every moment!” when he becomes aware of an intruders presence (Poe 2).

"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne

This song starts off with a much more upbeat tempo, encompassing seemingly insane laughing and screaming along to rock music. This song best accompanies the scene where the narrator suffocates the old man and begins dismembering the body. As the song begins to emphasize it’s focus on being crazy, the narrator “threw open the lantern and leaped into the room” and pulled the bed over the old man (Poe 2).  When the song finally reaches its main chorus, saying “going off the rails on a crazy train,” the narrator begins dismembering the corpse, nonchalantly stating that he “cut off the head and the arms and the legs” (Poe 2). The song immensely reflects the narrator’s final breaking point where he can take the man’s evil eye no longer. At this point it is obvious to the reader that the narrator is some sort of crazy.

"Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen

This song begins with a faster paced beat, slightly lightening the mood for the audience. This song would be best associated with the scene when the police come to question the narrator after proudly dismembering and hiding the body with little mess. Although it could be seen as a slight comic relief added to the story, the upbeat appeal to the song also reflects the narrators triumph as he “smiled,--for what had I to fear?” (Poe 3). The narrator’s uncanny pride in his accomplishments is displayed as the song reaches the chorus, repeating, “another one bites the dust,” referring to the old man’s corpse beneath the narrator’s chair. The narrator even states he was in “wild audacity of my perfect triumph,” reflecting his upbeat demeanor with the officers as the song continues on (Poe 3).

"Outside" by Staind

This song begins with a slow guitar and gradually adds more instruments along the way. This song would best accompany the scene when the narrator slowly begins to hear the heartbeat from beneath the floor. As the beat of the song begins to pick up, the narrator’s woes about whether the police can hear the heartbeat increase, saying “It was a low, dull, quick sound…I gasped for breath” (Poe 3). As the song reaches the chorus and the electric guitars and drums take reach full potential, the singer repeats, “I can see through you, see your true colors,” reflecting the narrators worries that the police are “making a mockery of [his] horror” (Poe 3).  The song continues at this pace as the narrator’s guilt causes his downfall and he confesses to his murderous deed.

Poe, Edgar A. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” 1843. 1-3. Print. 

Songs for "The Tell-Tale Heart"

John Watson

Blog #4, Option 2

Songs of Madness

            There are many songs that can be used to describe Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” as they relate to the narrator’s decent into madness, even the narrator claims that he is sane. Some of the songs that I believe are relevant to this short story are: “Breaking Point” by Bullet For My Valentine, “Insane In the Brain” by Cypress Hill, “Monster” by Imagine Dragons, “Fury Oh Fury” by Nico Vega, and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins. Bullet For My Valentine’s “Breaking Point” is relevant to “The Tell-Tale Heart,” because after looking at the old man’s “vulture eye” for a certain amount of time, even though the old man could not see out of this eye, the narrator reached the point, which was on the second paragraph of the story, where he could not tolerate the eye’s existence any longer and he decided to end the eye by killing the old man (Poe, 1). The negative emotions in this song matches with the narrator’s shear hatred for the old man’s eye and the song makes the scene where the narrator decides to kill the old man more intense because the song would provide a clear indication that the narrator has reached the tipping point and became mad.

            Cypress Hill’s song, “Insane In the Brain” may sound silly to people who listen to it for the first time, but the lyrics in this song match with the narrator’s mind set when he becomes obsessed with getting rid of the old man’s eye. The scene that this song would be relevant in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the scene where the narrator believes that he hears the old man’s heart beat, even though the narrator suffocated the old man to death and then proceeded to dismember him and put the remains in the exact spot that the murder occurred, and he yells at the two police officers because he believed that they knew he murdered the old man and that they were toying with him. Cypress Hill’s song does make this scene a little more intense because it would make it more clear to the audience that the narrator has gone insane and therefore cannot think rationally. If the narrator thought rationally, he would have realized that he was hearing his own heartbeat instead of the deceased old man.

            Imagine Dragon’s single, “Monster” is relevant to this short story because it can be used to describe what the narrator has become after he decides to kill old man in order to escape the vulture eye and on how the narrator watches the old man sleep for almost a week like for some sort of predator studying its prey, before suffocating the old man using a mattress. This song matches the emotions of the scene where the narrator kills the old man and then dismembers him. The music of the song itself does not make this particular scene more horrifying, but the lyrics of the song match this scene because the song lyrics mention the singer becoming a monster.

            Nico Vega’s song, “Fury Oh Fury” is relevant to “The Tell-Tale Heart” because it can be used to describe the narrator’s anger towards the old man’s vulture eye and when the narrator unleashing all of his pent-up rage by suffocating the old man with a mattress in order to eliminate the eye. This song makes the scene in the previous sentence have a more intense feeling of anger because the song lyrics mention bottling up your negative emotions and then letting your rage take over and consume you. These lyrics describe the narrator’s frustrations with the old man’s eye and how the narrator later lets his hatred and rage guide his actions.

            The final song on the list that is relevant to Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is Smashing Pumpkins’ song, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” This song is relevant to this short story because the lyrics revolve around the singer being caged up like an animal even after releasing his pent up anger. These lyrics can be used to describes the narrator’s feelings and way of thinking because the narrator feels trapped by the old man’s eye, but after he kills the old man, the narrator is arrested and put in a jail cell after admitting to the two cops that he murdered the old man, a physical cage instead of a mental cage. The music in this song make the scene where the narrator kills the old man and later confesses to the police and is put in jail have a more intense feeling of rage and despair due the fact that even though the narrator managed to escape the eye, he found himself in another cage, one with actual walls and iron bar on all sides.

            These five songs are only a few of the many songs that can be used to describe the events in “The Tell-Tale Heart” as well as the narrator’s decent into insanity. Each of these songs describes the madness of the narrator and of his crime of murdering the old man just because the narrator could not tolerate the old man’s eye. The rage and despair within these songs mimic the emotions of the narrator and help to reveal his insanity, even though the narrator’s tale did little to convince people that was sane.

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Tell-Tale Heart,” published in 1843.

Spill It Now [Dot] Com, “Imagine Dragons: Monster,” album cover, Spill It Now [Dot] Com, accessed on October 17, 2013.

Zach Kambour, “Bullet For My Valentine: Temper Temper,” album cover, Mostly Metal, accessed on October 17, 2013.

"The Anatomy of Desire" and the movie "Twilight"

While reading and talking in class today, I could not help to think about the movie “Twilight” when we discussed the story “The Anatomy of Desire” especially with the correlation of the fascination with someone’s skin in both of these stories and want to be able to possess someone else in the name of love. In the “Twilight” movie, there is one particular scene where Bella and Edward are in the woods behind the high school and they are laying on the ground together in the sun light and she has a fascination with the glittering of his skin when the sun hits it. He is actually ashamed of how it glitters which seem to play into her fascination even more. This scene is similar to when the General is admiring Hanley’s face and seems to have an unnatural attraction to how perfect it is and how Hanley not only wants the Saints love but he actually wants her to allow him to cut her skin off so he can totally possess her.

Another similarity is the personal need to love and/or possess someone so much that you are willing to change who you are and/or who they are so you can have or possess them completely; Bella loved Edward so much that she wanted to become what he was, a vampire which to most who were vampires was not a choice they would have made given the chance. Bella is human and wants more than anything to become a vampire like Edward.  Just like the “Saint” in the story, Bella is willing to give up her human life for immortality like Edward has. One major difference is Edward does not want her to do this but she insists that she understands all of the consequences of her choice.

 

Stephanie Key

Relation to a Character

         Of all the characters in the stories, despite the supernatural and eerie themes, I feel like I can most likely relate to Constance from Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived In the Castle. I feel like I can relate to Constance in shallow and obvious ways, as well as within a deeper emotional level. 

On an overall surface, Constance was the eldest sister in the Blackwood family. In this way, we share the title of the eldest child in a large family, as I am the oldest of three children. Constance is the primary caretaker of the home, when her family was still alive, up until it was just Uncle Julian, herself, and Merricat. Not only does she take on the role of the matriarch of the family, Jackson writes her as if she truly enjoys doing so. She loves her kitchen, so much that after the scene with the fire, there was much attention directed towards “Constance’s kitchen.” I can relate to this in that whether I’m at home with my family, or at school with my friends, I am the one who cooks and takes care of everyone. I see this neither as a nuisance or a task, for I greatly enjoy doing so. 

On a deeper level, I believe that Constance and I are truly similar. At the end of the novel, we find that not only has Constance known about Merricat’s actions all along, but has protected her secret. While none of my siblings have ever committed such heinous crimes against our family, or anyone for that matter, I know that I would happily defend and protect them if such situations were to happen. Additionally, it was easy for Cousin Charles to come in and manipulate her into believing and thinking what he wanted her to. As much as I am reluctant to admit, I am very easily gullible and can easily be talked into thinking if a person is truly passionate about the topic on hand. Although Constance was portrayed as a victim in the story, I viewed her as a strong and mysterious blank slate that made it easy for people to assume what they wanted to about her. I viewed this as a tactic, like she was “playing dumb” responding with very broad answers and brushing off conversation that did not please her. I feel like more than often, I am guilty of “over protecting” myself so I refrain from putting myself out and available for others to judge. 

After reading We Have Always Lived In the Castle, I felt like I could relate to Constance both on a broad and surface plane and even further emotional level. 

“The Anatomy of Desire” Soundtrack

Option #2

While reading, “The Anatomy of Desire” by John L’Heureux, I came up with a few songs that I think go well with the plot, characters, and emotion of the scenes. After each scene I covered, I paused to find the right song before moving on. I did this to pick songs that would appropriately portray the characters and events at that moment, without any prior knowledge of subsequent events.

“The Weeping Song” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

          This song starts out with a slow beat of the piano, into a deep male voice. This song would play during the opening scene, where Hanley is walking around the hospital searching for someone to love him. The lyrics, “this is a weeping song, a song in which to weep,” fits the sad, lonely mood of the main character as he mopes through the corridor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqhOVY58zIo

“Hatchet in the Teeth” by Xander Harris

          The next song goes quite well with the next scene of the book, which is a flash back to how Hanley lost his skin. In this part of the story, the narrator talks about how Hanley gets captured by the enemy and dragged to their general. This song is just instrumental, and has a spooky sound that something bad is about to happen. Hanley’s encounter with the general is very bizarre and fits the synthesized sound of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jml5wEpN2QY#t=54

“Careful With That Axe” by Pink Floyd

          During the next gruesome scene, where Hanley is hung up on a stripping post and stripped of his skin, I chose this very creepy Pink Floyd song. The act of skinning someone, I assume, would take a long time, and therefore the slow tempo would match the methodical task. The song contains faint screaming or wailing sounds that could further intensify the painful scene. Lastly, the whispers of “kill, kill”, followed by laughter is repeated right before the climactic part of the song. I imagine the disturbing general watching from afar, laughing and enjoying the sight of Hanley’s torture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpGdG27K9o

“Possession” by Sarah McLachlan

          Hanley so deeply desires the love from his nurse, and so the next song’s lyrics talk about a person going through similar issues. The words “would I spend forever here, and not be satisfied” remind me of the sadness he feels about his appearance and the fact that no one will love him. The song continues to talk more about this person’s obsession for the other and how their “… body aches to breathe your breath; your words keep me alive.” Hanley finally gets the affection of the nurse, and she has become infatuated with him. She tells him she can’t live without him, which makes this soft love song a perfect fit for both characters at this point in the story (L'Heureux 341).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itydwcyywBc

“Something I Can Never Have” by Nine Inch Nails

          The story ends with Hanley feeling unfulfilled after he “possesses” the nurse. He is forever searching for something that he can never have back, which is his skin. This song expresses the emptiness and hopelessness that his character is feeling. Once again the slow piano melody, accompanied by the creepy voice and lyrics of Trent Reznor, makes this song an ideal fit for the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEW8riKU_tE

The Anatomy of Desire: A Critique

I think the first thing that we must have all thought after reading this short story was, "What the hell did I just read?" This short story is jam-packed with enough "w-t-f" moments to leave the reader pacing the floor reading it a second time. 

In "The Anatomy of Desire" we meet Hanley, a prisoner of war who was flayed alive, left with only his genitals and face. While skinless and constantly moist with blood in a vet's hospital, Hanley becomes lonely and has a "great and natural desire to be possessed by someone (L'heureux 339)." While in the hospital, Hanley convinces his nurse, called "the saint," to be the one to love him. She obliges, and loves Hanley, even going as far as having sex with him. But this love is not enough, Hanley wants to possess her. He convinces her to allow him to cut off her skin so that he may wear it. In the end, Hanley saw "that here can be no possession, there is only desire (L'heureux 343)." 

To me, this short story is a metaphor for the parallel between want and have. Hanley had love, but he wants to possess it. But love is not a tangible thing, we cannot hold love. He had such a strong, creepy, and disgusting desire to possess the saint that he wanted to live in her skin. This story teaches us that we all desire something, and sometimes when we finally get it, we end up desiring even more. It teaches us that we must be happy with what we have.

Personally, I think this story is too creepy for me to enjoy. It has hints of "Buffalo Bill" from The Silence of the Lambs. The quote "It rubs the lotion on the skin..." was constantly playing in the back of my mind while reading this story. The subtle hints of homosexuality, the obvious hints of heterosexuality, and the graphic description of the nature of his condition keeps a reader on edge. Maybe I completely missed the theme or moral to this story, but even so, I think there are less creepy ways to get a point across than L'heureux chose. Of course, what makes a story gothic if it is not creepy? 

L'heureux, John. The Anatomy of Desire. London: Penguin Group, 1996. Print.

Blaire Pickens- The Lonesome Place: Blog 4

In August Derleth’s “The Lonesome Place,” Steve is a little boy at the tender age of 6 years old. His mother, however, thinks that he is old enough to walk down to the store by himself so when she forgets milk, sugar or bread at the store she makes her son go instead of her husband or going on her own. The story is about fear breeding fear, as every time he must go to the store he has to pass by “the lonesome place” a block away from his house. The lonesome place was terrifying to Steve and also to his friend Johnny Newell who sometimes had to pass by it too. Steve described it as “half a block long, black as black could be, dark as the deepest night, with the shadows of the trees making it a solid place of darkness, with the faint glow of light where a streetlight pooled at the end of the street, far away it seemed, and that other glow behind, where the other corner light lay.” This story by August Derleth reminds me of all of the news stories and articles I hear about young children being on the their own with no one watching over them simply because their parents are ignorant or lackadaisical. One of these new stories was from Tulsa, Oklahoma where a 3-year-old boy was found walking alone and the mother will not face charges. Even though the boy said he was walking to the store because he was hungry. Any parent who takes a risk with their child’s safety should understand what kind of danger children can be put into when they go without supervision. In “The Lonesome Place,” Steve’s mother tries to use irrelevant details to justify her forcing her son to go to the market. When Steve tries to tell his mother he isn’t big enough to go she answers with “Oh, shush! You’re a big boy now. You’re going to be seven years old. Just think of it. Your Sears Roebuck pants are long ones.” This is not a viable reason to let someone who is not even 7 years old walk somewhere out of the house to go anywhere. And in the same way it is not okay for a 3 year old to be left at home alone unattended and without a babysitter. http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/No-charges-expected-after-little-boy-found/EsE4Lk1EXEC-HezJOU_IwQ.cspx