Compare_and_Contrast_Poe_and_Steinbeck

Poe vs. Steinbeck: One Short Story Shall Stay The title of the book is “Literature” which is artistic writing worthy of being remembered due to the expression and form and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal. Since this book is written for students to aggrandize the knowledge of literature, the stories must be appealing and interesting. In experience, students are more attracted to the darker theme presented by “The Tell-Tale Heart” and enthralled by the almost psychotic tone and impressive characterization. Therefore, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a more fitting choice to keep in the literature book than “The Chrysanthemums” due to the plot, characterization, and tone conveyed in the short story. The plots of the two stories are complete opposites. In the short story “The Chrysanthemums,” Steinbeck projects the plot in a rather nonchalant manner. The basic plot of the story is Elisa grows the best chrysanthemums and is somewhat under minded and underappreciated. For example, her husband remarks comments like, “I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big.” (Steinbeck 227) and also by the tinker who throws out the chrysanthemums to the middle of the road but kept the pot. For the most part, the story is uninteresting and becomes difficult to understand when interest is lost. However, “The Tell-Tale Heart” grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning to the end. “Poe’s work has a profound ability to draw the reader into the minds of his narrators,” says Barbara Cantalupo, the editor of The Edgar Allan Poe Review. (Johns) The plot is rather clever and disturbing. It is the story of a man who suffers of an illness which he quotes “the disease had sharpened my senses.” (Poe 37) He watched an old man sleep for days and urges to kill him all because of his “evil eye” which “resembled that of a vulture.” (Poe 37) One night he finally kills the old man, dismembers his body, and thinks of himself as “clever.” When the police arrive, his conscious gets to him because of the constant sound of the “beating heart” of the old man, and gives himself up. Although the plot is just a couple of pages, the impact of the story is immense. The characters in the story “The Chrysanthemums” are dull, ordinary people from around the time period. There is not really a spark of anything of special significance or intrigue in any of the characters. Elisa was just a simple, typical woman who was isolated and undermined to her own “little world.” Whereas, in the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” the protagonist has a certain sense of evil and an eerie vibe that Poe creates. His insanity makes the story deeper and darker since his only motive for killing is the “evil eye.” He also questions his sanity when he asks, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing.” (Poe 37) This character is deranged and demented, yet interesting and fascinating. The tone of "The Chrysanthemums" is one of oppression and confinement. Her husband keeps her isolated physically and emotionally. Steinbeck sets this tone at the beginning of the story describing the house, “The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky…along the river flamed with sharp and positive yellow leaves.” (Steinbeck 226) Also, her world, her garden, is surrounded by a fence that does not allow her to explore like she would. For example, she told the tinker, “It must be nice” (Steinbeck 231) to travel in a wagon. She is confined to her garden and her thoughts since her husband does not have a notion or understanding of the simple things in life like her chrysanthemums. On the contrast, "The Tell-Tale Heart," a dramatic monologue, is marked by intensity of tone and psycho realism. Barbara Cantalupo, the editor of The Edgar Allan Poe Review agrees, “He bares to the bone universal human emotions: fear (of death, of insanity, of powerlessness), loneliness, love, hate, revenge, jealousy. And it’s these emotions that underlie most art-making.” (Johns) In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the tone ,as well as demonic and dark, is also a bit humorous. At the beginning of the story he sets a tone of the protagonist being funny due to the fact he was questioning his sense. Lewis, Boston’s No. 1 Edgar Allan Poe advocate and Boston College professor, agrees, “The notoriously macabre writer was capable of conjuring more than fear and madness. Poe, he claims, actually wielded a wily sense of humor.” (Shea) “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a rich story full of bewildering logic for a killers mind through the expression of tone. Hence, “The Chrysanthemums” is more of a gloomy, depressing setting with an un-climatic tone like a continual never ending story. On the other hand, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is full of suspense and horror that keeps the reader’s attention. Although in “The Chrysanthemums” Steinbeck has a well set plot, characterization, tone, and theme, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a more captivating and more memorable story and should remain in the book. Thus, students will have better understanding of the elements of literature. Edgar Allen Poe’s story is a magnificent piece that revolutionized detective stories. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a memorable classic work of English literature therefore, “The Chrysanthemums” should be removed from the literature book.  Works Cited Johns, Ian. “Perfectly Ghastly.” Times Online. The Times, 21 Jan. 2003. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. Poe, Edgar A. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Longman: New York, 2010. 36-40. Print. Shea, Andrea. “What’s so Funny About Poe'” WBUR. Boston’s News Source, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2010 Steinbeck, John. “The Chrysanthemums.” Kennedy 226-233.