The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

Spencer Jameson

Option #2

            In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allen Poe describes the murder of an old man with an eye that looked like a vulture. If I were to create a soundtrack for a movie adaptation for this story, I would try to choose songs that produced a similar feel as story. I want a soundtrack that creates the feeling of uneasiness and paranoia that was felt by the narrator during this story.

            The first song I would include on my soundtrack would be “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell. This song has the high pitched synthesizer that creates an eerie feeling. This paired with the lyrics of the song are perfect for this story of a person sneaking into someone’s house to watch them in their sleep. For the second song, I would have to pick Papa Roach’s “Last Resort”. This would pair with the scene of the narrator strangling his victim. This song talks about causing pain, especially in the form of suffocation. This is perfect for this story in my opinion.

After the old man is killed, I would play the song “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” by Drowning Pool. This song would be perfect for the montage of the narrator realizing his actions and scrambling to hide the body. The song is fast passed and gets your heart pumping, which is perfect for this portion of the story. After the body is hidden and the narrator is talking to the police above the floorboards, “Heartbeat” by Childish Gambino would fade in. This is a rap song unlike most of the rock songs on this soundtrack, but I still think that the fast paced beat would make it a good fit for this list. Lastly, when the narrator of the story is shown one last time in his jail cell, “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed will begin playing as the story wraps up and the credits begin. It shows that the narrator really is crazy and guilty of murder because of insanity.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" Soundtrack

Alex Foley
Blog Option 2

I chose to write this blog last because I do not consider myself particularly creative when it comes to choosing music. However, I have developed a soundtrack for Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-tale Heart” based on instrumental songs from FX’s critically acclaimed show “American Horror Story”. These songs provide both creepy background music and a narrative inside the narrator’s head.

Song 1: Bucket of Blood (from :30)

“The Tell-tale Heart” begins with the narrator lamenting that “[the old man] had never wronged me. He had never given me insult (Poe).” The fact that the narrator immediately feels the need to justify himself shows his potential guilt and need to convince the reader that he is not crazy. This use of violins in this song provides an appropriate background for the narrator’s beginning.

Song 2: Twisted Nerve

The narrator continues his story by describing how he practiced entering the old man’s room “for seven long nights --every night just at midnight (Poe)”. This obsessive behavior and the prideful tone in which the narrator presents his story indicates that the narrator feels accomplished in his sneakiness. This song contains few instruments and is overpowered by a whistle. When listening to the song, it is easy to imaging the narrator stalking his prey.

Song 3: American Horror Story Theme

This song plays at the beginning of every episode of “American Horror Story”. This song is so jarring because it consists of a relatively stable melody interrupted by sudden and unexpected sharp sounds. When listening to this song, the reader can picture the narrator smothering the old man and making sure he is dead. This song also includes chainsaw-like noises throughout the song, which is appropriate for “The Tell-tale Heart” since the narrator “dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs (Poe).”

Song 4: For the Last Time We’ll Pray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiU8tXf8kqg

Upon killing the old man, the narrator is approached by police officers. Feeling confident in his “work”, the narrator invites them to investigate his home. This song is mean to be played during the time the police are conducting their search. This song is less aggressive than the others, since at this time the narrator is calm and collected. 

Song 5: Haunted Music Box

Couldn't find a YouTube link but it's on iTunes

The climax of the story involves the narrator hearing the titular heart. He becomes quickly panicked, stating that “anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! (Poe)”. This song gets increasingly louder and more aggressive, mirroring the narrator’s mood as the sound of the heart gets louder and louder.

Opposites Attract

Ashley Adams

Blog Option 4

The two protagonists in Ray Bradbury’s novel “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, remind me of the relationship I have with my best friend.

Bradbury describes Will as very cautious and wants to take time to think about things instead of just jumping in. Jim on the other hand is the complete opposite. He is all about adventure and asking for forgiveness instead of permission. He reminds me of my best friend. She is always trying to get me to go out with her or do something random.

Even though they are complete opposites, the boys are still best friends and have each other’s back. In one scene in the book the boys hear the music of the carnival. Jim wants to get out of bed at 3 a.m. and go see what’s happening. Will on the other hand does not.

“Here goes nothing!”

“Jim wait!”

Will thrashed into his clothes.

“Jim don’t go alone!”

And followed after. (Bradbury 47)

Even though he doesn’t want to go, Will doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Jim so he tags along.

            Webster’s Dictionary defines a friend as “a person who you like and enjoy being with.” To me a friend is so much more than that. A friend is someone who is there for you no matter what time of night you need them or what problem you may have. They also don’t have to be the same person as you. I feel that my best friend and I complement each other very well. She helps me to come out of my shell more and I am there to keep her grounded. I wouldn’t change anything about our personality for the world. She’s my friend because of who she is and I would never want to change that just as she would never want to change me. Just like Will and Jim, we aren’t trying to compete with each other. “Nobody won. Nobody wanted to win. It was in their friendship they just wanted to run forever, shadow and shadow…no one losing, both winning, thus saving their friendship for other times of loss” (Bradbury 12). She moved to North Carolina when we were juniors in high school. It was very tough for me at first, because I thought maybe she would find some more friends that were more outgoing than me and we wouldn’t be friends anymore. That was not the case. Even though we’re hundreds of miles apart, we still act like Will and Jim, sharing secrets and protecting each other.

Madness lies in the Desire of the Human by Trisha Langley

Trisha Langley

11/13/13

Blog #5

Option #5 “Madness in Desire”

                  The short story that scared me the most throughout this entire semester of reading short stories would be “The Anatomy of Desire” by John L’Heureux. Although short and sweet this story gave me chills and an upset stomach when reading it for the first time. I was so captivated by the story and the detail that it was as if I was in the room with the characters watching it in real life. I suppose that’s probably why I reacted so poorly initially but I truly was disturbed.

                  The trope that was used by the author in this story was madness. The main character Hanley was consumed by this idea of “being loved and possessed by someone.” But this obsession is quickly turned evil when he brutally performs the same act to the nurse that was done to him, being skinned alive. My first thought was that Hanley was just lonely so I sympathized with him considering his situation. But then it occurred to me that he isn’t lonely, he is simply a deranged and mad man. My overall thoughts about the story line were that this is something that could very well happen. I believe that’s why I found it so terrifying because it was relevant to real life happenings and we as readers could relate to things we have heard and seen in the news about people were considered “mad” or “crazy” and the heinous crimes they have committed.  Similarly Hanley committed the same crime by forcing the nurse to love him and then he literally was “possessed” by her once he put her skin over his skinless body. The ending of this story disgusted me especially when I picture him placing another human beings skin over his own body.

After reading this for a second time and having our class discussion over the story I made the connection with the real life “crazy man” we all know in America as Jeffery Dahmer. He was accused and convicted of killing 17 men and boys over a span of 13 years. But that’s not the worse thing about it. His form of killing these people typically involved dismemberment and cannibalism or preservation of the human remains that followed the murder. We all know the name Jeffery Dahmer and automatically relate it to the idea of madness. 

Overall I give this short story a rating of 5 because to me it was short so it was very quick and to the point, which I like. The author also did a great job of presenting the story with enough background information so that way the reader could easily follow. And lastly I think the author perfectly portrayed the trope of madness with the main character Hanley in which he showed how a normal human being can so easily be transformed into an evil minded monster.

The Tell Tale Heart Music

Arnau Dachs

Mrs. Waggoner

Blog #2

November 15, 2013

The story I found more appropriate to do this blog is “The tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. I have chosen 5 different songs that I think they could work as a soundtrack in different scenes of the story

The first song is Fur Elise by Beethoven. I would put that song right in the beginning of the story were the young man talks about how the eye drives him crazy. Since we saw the movie of the short story in class I remember how he was talking explaining it in the beginning in a very creepy place. In my opinion that if you put this song, that is just in the piano, in that context it can turn to be really creepy.

The second song is “The Stalker” by Piebald. I would put that song in the scene where the young man is standing outside of the old man’s room with the door a little bit open and starring at the eye. The music would not make a lot of sense in that scene but the lyrics are perfect for the situation.

The third song is the soundtrack from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”. I would definitely put that song while the young man is gets in the room while the old man is sleeping and he just walks slowly and keeps getting closer from him. I would start that song at the 20 seconds because the music volume and the intensity is increasing so that could be that the closer the young man is going the more nervous and the more stressed everything is. The song would help to get that feeling.

The fourth song is the soundtrack from the movie “Psycho”. I chose that one because every time there a scene in a movie or a book that there is a murder I think about that song. In the short story we could relate the song when the old man is killed.

The fifth song is “Heartbeat” by Enrique Iglesis and Nicole Sherzinger. The song says: I can feel your heartbeat running through me. I would put this song in the scene right before the narrator kills the old man because he can hear and feel the heartbeat from the old man that keeps going louder and faster.