Krystal Watkins
ENGL 3153
A Brief Analysis of “Tell Tale Heart”

Because of its textbook definition, the term postmodernism is often ambiguous and difficult to define. Through the examination of the theories of both Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard, a working definition can be formed. Derrida provides a change in perspective as far as what reality truly is. According to Baudrillard, society has become reliant on the symbols, models, and maps that the physical has lost its place and there is no longer an honest reality. However, if Derrida is the source of information for defining postmodernism, the focus is not on the models or symbols, but on the literal meaning. Derrida’s take on post modernism is to deconstruct and de-familiarize in order to find the literal meaning, as well as an underlying message in the text. From the two theories, postmodernism can be defined as a philosophical theory or movement whose purpose is to question the implications and to determine a true reality. When applying these theories to a text, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a worthy text to work with. Both the theories of Baudrillard and Derrida can be successfully applied in different ways. Derrida’s idea of the center can be relevant to this story. The center, according to Derrida, controls structure and that without a center, structure in unthinkable. Derrida also makes it a point to note that the center is both inside and outside of a structure; it must be a part of the structure while simultaneously being independent from it. Because of this, the center is not necessarily the center. In this work, the center can be the “evil eye” of the old man. The narrator’s paranoia revolves around this eye. Simply the thought or imagining of the eye takes the storyteller over the edge. He struggles to view the eye as independent from to man in order to spare him. The eye, the