Response #9 - Motif Analysis

   Edgar Allan Poe had one goal in all his stories. He wanted his readers to feel a certain way. He controls the mood in all his stories. The one thing that I notice he uses a lot in his stories (the Motif) is darkness and death. In Poe stories or poetry there is almost always a character who's insane who ends up murdering something or someone. In the first story a guy killed an elderly man because his pale eye made him uncomfortable, in another story a man scooped the eye of his cat out because he was drunk then he hung the cat and killed his wife. His imagery is also very specific. There is always something creepy and dark about how he describes settings and objects in his stories. They always include dark lighting, fire, & pure darkness. 

    I think Poe has an important meaningful message behind all the gory, dark, depressing stories. He wants us to know that there is evil within us all, it doesn't matter how nice you are there will always be something that will set you off and unleash the beast. In another story he wants us to know that life after your childhood sucks, there is no happiness after you've lived your years as a child. I honestly think that Edgar Allan Por is a genius.