Son's Compare and Contrast Paper

[nicurn]

My 16 year old son has had to write a compare/contrast paper on Edgar Allen Poe'sThe Pit and the Pendulum and The Tell-Tale Heart for his Omni class. He is a very reluctant writer and does not write well for his age. He doesn't pay attention to what he is writing and does not proofread closely, so I know that there are spelling errors in this paper. He doesn't like to hear too much criticism from me (he thinks I am picking on him and being nit-picky) He does much better with an objective criticism from other people. I am posting his paper in it entirety, just as he wrote it, errors and all. If someone would comment and give him some feedback on how to improve this paper, he and I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

 

 

Poe Paper Compare and Contrast.

 

The author Edgar Allen Poe has written significant horror stories in his time; and they have been read throughout the generations. Two of these stories are “The Pit and Pendulum,†and “ The Tell-Tale Heart.†They both have some comparisons and differences that are easy to spot and to understand.

The comparisons of these stories are not noticed until you look how both are connected. In “The Pit and The Pendulum,†the victim is in terror of his tortures and what comes next after it. In “ The Tell-Tale Heart†the murderer is in terror of the old man’s vulture eye and how it pierces his mind. He explains that his eye is “a pale blue, with a white film over it.†They both experience death. The prisoner want to die rather be tortured and he comes close to it every time. The old man is actually killed from suffocation from his caretaker. They both cannot see, the prisoner can’t see because he has been placed in a pitch-black room. The old man is blind because his eye has a cataract, an eye infection that covers the eyes with a transparent white. They both experience mental torture. The prisoner is torture mentally and when he passes out or falls asleep his captors have another one planned. The old man is mentally tortured because when he hears a noise “ tries to says,†It is just the wind or “It’s just a mouse.†They both experience pain. The prisoner experience pain through his torture. The old man experiences pain when he is being suffocated in his sheets. Last, both the prisoner and the murderer narrate the stories. The Prisoner talks about his life and why something like this would happen to him. The murderer tells his story and how he murdered the old man.

There are some features in these stories that contrast with each other in some ways. These show what is different between them. One main fat is that one has more pages than the other. Short stories and books are roughly about the same size in length when wrote by the same author. Both stories are narrated by two different people. In “The Pit and The Pendulum†the victim is telling the story and what is happening to him. The murderer is telling his story in “The Tell-Tale Story.†The way the stories happen are different. The victim is the prisoner, while in murderer in the other story works for the old man. The endings in the stories are different. The first one ends with the prisoner being rescued at the last moment when he thought he was going to die. The second one end with the murderer showing the authorities the old man’s corpse. The prisoner fells joy during his rescue, while the murderer felt guilt. Both stories have the characters talking to themselves. The prisoner wants to die than be tortured, and the old man talks to himself to assure himself that no one is there, but it was all in vain. The narrator’s feelings are different. The prisoner hates his captors and wants them to be punished. The murderer really has no grudge and actually loves the old man, and kills him all because of an eye.

These show the characteristics of the author and how he writes his stories. This is how he thinks how the feelings of humanity are sometimes and how they react to it. The prisoner is confused, angry, scared and yet he is in control of his sanity. The murderer is scared, hateful, loving, and loses his sanity for a little all because of the old mans eye. I think these are the character traits in each stories and how each one affects the other throughout each one.

[JanetC]

Where to start? I don't think covering this with red ink is going to do you or your son any good. You need to go back to assigning one paragraph assignments until some of the basics of grammar, spelling, and coherent sentences are worked out. He simply isn't ready to succeed on a high school essay writing assignment.