Pre-Reading Guide for Tell-Tale Heart

Describe five things that you usually find in a scary/horror story: 1. ______________________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________________ 3. _______________________________________________________________ 4. _______________________________________________________________ 5. ________________________________________________________________

Read the following statements. If you agree with them, put a check in the YOU column. Then, AFTER we read the story, go back and put a check in the AUTHOR column if you feel the author agrees with that statement. YOU _________ _________ _________ AUTHOR ________ ________ ________ STATEMENT 1. People who are insane know that they are insane. 2. Sane people sometimes imagine that they hear things. 3. If you commit a crime, the worst punishment is the guilt afterward. 4. Often its the small annoying things about people that can be the most irritating and infuriating. 5. All people are basically afraid of the same things. 6. When youve done something wrong, wondering if youll be caught can cause great stress and anxiety.

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After-Reading Activities for Tell-Tale Heart

After reading Tell-Tale Heart by Poe, answer the following questions. You do not need to answer in complete sentences, but answer each part of the question thoroughly. 1. Did you find this story scary or suspenseful? Compare the story to the five things you listed in the pre-reading activity that scared you. 2. Go back to the pre-reading activity and decide what the author would say about each of the statements provided. 3. Who is telling this story (narrating)? Is it first, second, or third person? Why is this important? What is your first impression of the narrator? What does he try convincing the reader of? Do you believe him? Why or why not? 4. How do you think the narrator and the old man are related? How does the narrator feel about the old man in general? What, then, specifically, is it about the old man that troubles/bothers the narrator? Why is this so? How often does the narrator mention this thing in the story? Why is he so fixated on this aspect of the old man? 5. What does the narrator tell us he does every night? Why does he do this, and, more importantly, why does he tell us this? 6. How does the narrator feel immediately after he commits the murder? Do his feelings change? If so, how and why? 7. What sound drives the narrator to confess to the crime? What do you think causes his paranoia? Is this paranoia the mark of a sane person? 8. Give two direct and specific examples from the story that the author uses to create an atmosphere of horror or suspense. These are sentences that set or enhance the MOOD of the story. Give the page numbers. Give one example of how the author uses punctuation or repeated words or phrases in a sentence to create the mood of horror or suspense. 9. What is the theme of this story? Write your statement of theme in one clear sentence. 10. Find one example of each of the following and explain how it supports the character development or theme: alliteration, simile, personification. 11. In a couple of weeks you will be writing a monologue (i.e. a speech from one persons perspective) from the perspective of one of the characters in a story we have read in class. Write a short speech, in complete sentences, from the perspective of the old man. Consider some or all of the following questions as you develop your speech: How does he feel about the narrator? Does he suspect that the narrator is insane? Does he suspect that the narrator is going to try to kill him? If not, what does he think of the narrators behaviour? What does he find annoying about the narrator? Does he consider killing the narrator?