Point of View
Thrilling
Story’s and fictional objects make Edgar Allen Poe’s, Tales of Mystery And Terror,
perfect for a complicated and exuberating read. At first many of these stories
didn’t make sense to me; Sphinx being a prime example. It’s children’s
story demeanor and “Scary Monster” cliché make this story seem far from what it
is. A man seeing a monster that is bigger than an elephant but it’s actually
known to be the size of an insect? Maybe he has problems that are much larger
then they seem, or anxiety, or maybe he’s just plan crazy. But more importantly
what is his friend thinking?
In Edgar Allen
Poe’s Sphinx, the main character give the impression that there is truly
an immense creature ready to attack him.
You feel the chills that run up his spine and sheer terror that
envelopes him. It made me feel confused just like the main character! Only because you hear his
point of view; what he is feeling during his encounters. He even states “As this creature first came
in sight, I doubted my own sanity – or at least the evidence of my own eyes;”
so he was admitting to the thought of this creature being preposterous! “and
many minutes pass before I succeeded in convincing myself that I was neither
mad nor in a dream.” But quite oddly I started to believe him too, this is a
real thing. His confused words made me believe this distraught man.
Would I believe
this man if someone else were telling the story? Of course not! My mind sways
by the judgment of the narrator, thus, if the narrator was the host I would
most definitely be thinking this man was crazy. Possibly delusional! If I
wanted a clearer perspective on the whole situation I would want a 3rd
person point of view. Someone who is not part of the situation just an outsider
telling the story, similar to myself. This way the opinions would be toned down
and I would see each side. No one’s making me think things that are not quite
correct or the way they play out to be. But, if it were to be a 3rd
person narration the story could have become meaningless and boring. Morals of the story would have been absent. The way it
was really narrated made it intense and it made you think, although it made you
think as crazy as the character did.
Although
thrilling, this story is more of a delusional mans thoughts. Tricking you in to
thinking this could be real. He learns to find his sanity in the end but he still
made you undergo his fearful foolish puzzled mind-set. So depending on who recites
the story makes a large difference on how you comprehend the tale and each character
in it!
