Thrills and Chills

Authors Note:The Point of view can make or break a story, particularly in Tales of Mystery and Terror . The point of view it was in made it confusing and made you feel a bit foolish for believing it in the end. In this piece I analyzed the point of view of Sphinx.

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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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!