The Tell-Tale Heart Close Reading Questions

 

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe

Close Reading Questions

Write your answers on lined paper and attach to this. Turn into the tray.

1.   89 – Reread lines 8-16. How can you tell that the story is being told from a first-person point of view?

2.   How does the use of first-person narrative contribute to the development of suspense?

3.   90 - Reread lines 45-52.  CITE TEXT EVIDENCE. USE QUOTES. Identify details in the text that suggest that the narrator is unreliable.

4.    What was it that vexed the narrator?

5.   91 – Reread lines 80-93.  Repetition of words is used to emphasize an idea and help create suspense.  Identify 4 places where Poe repeats a word of phrase. 

6.   What idea does the repetition of “to feel” emphasize?

7.   What impact does the repetition of the word “stealthily” have?

8.   92 – Reread lines 103-115. CITE TEXT EVIDENCE. USE QUOTES. Find examples of ways that Poe creates suspense. 

9.   93- Reread lines 130-141.  In this passage, how does the narrator try to convince the reader that he is sane and reliable? CITE TEXT EVIDENCE. USE QUOTES.

10.                 What effect do the narrator’s explanations have on the reader?

11.                 94 – Reread lines 172-178. Why is the description in lines 172-174 in italic type? 

12.                 What does the narrator think the sound is?

13.                 What is the likely source of the sound?

14.                 Write you ideas – “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a well-known classic. With a partner discuss what makes the story and its narrator – so though provoking? CITE TEXT EVIDENCE to support your ideas. USE QUOTES.