Never fear when completing the Text Dependent Analysis (TDA). Much like any analysis paper, your work with a story requires that you (the reader) not only understand the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE of a plot, but that you also look into WHY and HOW the story _________________________. And, you guessed it, you have to fill in this blank.
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," we know the WHO/WHAT/WHEN/WHERE are about the murderous narrator who informs the audience that his "boss/master" (for lack of a better word) drove him to madness and, thus, murder within the master's own home due to the hideous shape of the master's eye. However, Poe didn't have to craft his story through the 1st Person POV. Nor, did he have to take the reader through the erratic, jarred stream of conscious of this madman. BUT HE DID. To fill in the blank, for an example analysis of Poe's short story, you would ask WHY and HOW (not necessarily in that order) Poe uses POV to enhance the terror in "The Tell-Tale Heart." REMEMBER, just like you make certain choices as a writer, these authors also make conscious decisions when writing. Mostly it's for fun; sometimes it's to say something MUCH BIGGER. Your job, again, is to figure out WHY and HOW, along with filling in that "blank." Here is a quick analysis of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," in response/continuation to my note above regarding POV: In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," the author weaves a terrifying tale about murder and madness. However, the contents of the plot aren't solely responsible for the horror within the piece. The point of view, a limited first person perspective, greatly enhances the terror thanks to stream of consciousness. Because the reader is trapped within the mind of the narrator and eventual murderer, the reader sees the protagonist descent into madness. The complex sentences without punctuation (or any ending punctuation in sight) leaves the reader gasping after completing a long-winded sentence and leery for the next sentence to begin. This lack of punctuation, at times, shows an obvious failed attempt at sentence structure. Without structure, there is no order. Therefore, the narrator who is responsible for creating these sentences lacks the ability to create order. In the case of "The Tell-Tale Heart," chaos is created in both the construction of the plot and the story its self. Had the reader been narrated by a sane character, the sentence structure would have followed tradition grammar rules. By ignoring structure, however, this piece showcases erratic thought processes. This unpredictability unsettles readers in a subtle way, thus adding to the existing terror unfolding thanks to the various conflicts. As a result, Poe's story is more terrifying because the reader cannot trust a narrator whose perspective is incoherent. Instead, we are left at his mercy to dictate the plot and our reading of it. If you noted, analysis responses are a lot of "circle talking." You're rehashing information that other readers may not agree upon; nevertheless, it's YOUR INTERPRETATION of the WHY and HOW the story _______________________. Provided you can convince the reader of your position, with supporting details and interpretations of those details from the story, your analysis will be sound. The TDA is a merely a matter of diving beneath the surface of a text to uncover new ideas and interpretations of a literary work.
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If you have not done so yet, please review my archived blogs entitled "Dynamic Characters" and "Aristotle's Incline." The former posts will assist you in better understanding O'Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation" for our class discussion and lecture within the coming days.
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Ms. HutiraThe following blog allows students and parents to recap the class's unit lessons. Archives
January 2020
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