When I was reading these two selections, I noticed that they had some interesting similarities and differences. All of Poe's works are dark and usually contain some type of suspense. These two were similar in that they both seemed to hint at the narrator being psychotic.
In "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator does not give a logical reason as to why he wants to kill his neighbor. He says that his neighbor's pale blue eye is the reason. This is obviously not a legitimate reason to kill someone, or even become angry. However, the author tells the story with such rationale that by the end of the story, the reader almost forgets the ridiculous reason for the man's murder.(http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/section6.rhtml)
In "The Cask of Amontillado", which is also involves the narrator committing murder, there is somewhat of a different plot. In this reading the narrator, Montressor, talks about revenging the "thousand injuries" brought upon him by Fortunado. Though it would seem to the reader that revenge is a more logical reason to kill someone than how they look, the Montressor never explicitly states what Fortunado did to wrong him. On Poe's part, this suggests the narrator has psychological issues because since he did not inform the reader of what happened, whether or not it is something that merits punishment by death is solely up to the narrator's judgement.
Both of these stories detail premeditated murder, and the careful way each of the narrators plan to kill his victim. (http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/cask/#style) The difference is the fear of being caught. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", the author can hear the heart of his victim beating and fears that the police can hear it as well. In "The Cask of Amontillado", the narrator is sure no one will ever find out about Fortunado's demise at his hands.
Poe's way of writing dark, creepy, murderous stories is often repeated today. The scary psychological element is often used today and is wildly popular. It is often suspected that Poe had psychological issues himself, but the only thing known for sure is that he had difficulties in his everyday life.
Ichabod Crane is the ultimate underdog. He is a skinny, lanky, day-dreaming man hoping to win the heart of a woman that most would consider to be his superior because of her wealth and beauty. (http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/a-23-2006-04-23-voa4-83129372.html) This is a plot that everyone is familiar with: the boy who doesn't seem to have much hope is fighting a stronger male for the affections of a lovely lady, which neither really seems to deserve. The majority of films and books today use this same storyline because audiences love to root for the underdog, and usually the underdogs are successful (with the exception of Ichabod Crane). I started to think of some present-day books and movies that had audiences rooting for the least likely character.
The most recent movie like this that I could think of was "The Vow" with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. Channing Tatum's character must make his wife, Rachel McAdams, fall back in love with him after she loses her memory. The last thing she remembers is being engaged to someone else, a man who is more successful and wealthier than Channing Tatum.(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606389/) No one seems to like the strong, assertive characters in those type of films except for the girl, but in the end the underdog wins.
Another example that is a little different is the Movie "Bridesmaids". In this case, two of the characters are fighting to be the best friend of Lillian, played by Maya Rudolph. Kristen Wiig plays the underdog character Annie, a seemingly hopeless and eternally single 30-something working a job that barely plays her rent. The antagonist, Helen, poses a wealthy, beautiful, successful threat to Annie's friendship with Helen. (http://www.bridesmaidsmovie.com/index.php) After seeing Helen's schemes to ruin that friendship, audiences sided with Annie and rooted for her throughout the movie.
Usually, audiences are furious and frustrated when the underdogs do not come out on top, and they hate to see when those strong, usually mean, characters are victorious. Washington Irving ended his writing a little differently than most would have wanted, with the alpha character Brom Bones getting the girl, thus shattering the hopes of the poor dreamer Ichabod Crane.
I thought it was interesting that right before we started reading Frederick Douglass, I became aware of modern-day slavery. The majority of people, especially in the United States, believe that slavery no longer exists. They may also believe that slavery exists, but just not in America. This is far from the truth. Between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually. According to a 2005 report from the U.S. State Department, between 14,500 and 17,500 of these are in the United States. (http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/the-facts/) Through research, I found that there are a number of key similarities and differences in the type of historical slavery we are familiar with and slavery that occurs today. Slave locations in the United States today Slavery today is more commonly known as "trafficking". It involves capturing another individual by force or violence, and exploiting them for sex, labor, or servitude. It can often involve selling them to another person for these same reasons. Historical slavery began in a similar way. Europeans came to Africa and forced the people there into labor and servitude. Another means of getting an individual to be trafficked is by deceiving them instead of forcing them. Similar things happened in history. Many men agreed to work as slaves in exchange for the opportunity to come to America, but then worked so hard that they often died before they earned their freedom or found that they could not support themselves after earning it.
Something that I found totally heartbreaking was that in other countries today, many parents will willingly sell their children because their poverty is so extreme. Oftentimes, they trust that the person they are selling them to will be good to them, but many times this is how children ended up being enslaved and exploited. (http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/) One of the fastest-growing areas in trafficking is prostitution. Many girls are kidnapped and forced into prostitution, but there are also some that choose this lifestyle for themselves. With no education and no money, they feel that this is their only choice.
One difference between the two is the money that goes into it. In 1809, slaves would sell for about $40,000 by today's standards. In 2009, a slave could be purchased for $90. Historically, slaves were sometimes seen as a status symbol and a way to show that one had wealth. Slaves were not treated well, but generally masters wanted to make sure their slaves were healthy because they were expensive to replace. Today, this is not a concern because of their low cost. It is obvious that one takes better care of something they spend a lot of money on.
There are about 27 million slaves in the world today. That is more than there have ever been, including the African slave trade. (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/) It is ranked third in profit generation by a criminal industry, behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking. It generates $32 billion annually.
The previous solution to the problem of slavery was legal action. With the passage of the 14th Amendment and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, slaves were freed from their owners. In the U.S. and other countries with similar laws, now the issue becomes awareness and enforcement of the law.
