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The Tell-Tale Heart And The Monkey's Paw

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A victim is a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action. After questioning a sum of people, it was concluded that a multitude of readers are oblivious to the fact there are more than a single victim in several suspense storylines. Despite how often this common thread theme is overlooked, there are indeed multiple victims in numerous suspense stories. Three quintessential suspense stories that portray this theme are “The Landlady,” “The Tell Tale Heart,” and “The Monkey’s Paw.”
To begin, in “The Landlady” a seemingly warm-hearted elderly woman selects her prey wisely, making three attractive young men victims. The main character, Billy (age 17) was simply looking for a …show more content…
“But I'm always ready. Everything is always ready day and night in this house just on the off chance that an acceptable young gentleman will come along. And it is such a pleasure, my dear, such a very great pleasure when now and again I open the door and I see someone standing there who is just exactly right.” (page 174)Yet the author did not specifically prove the men were dead and Billy was going to be killed, it can be assumed this is true because of the clever and effective foreshadowing that they would indeed die and get stuffed. In fact, Billy was not the first attractive, young man the unnamed woman preyed on. Billy had recognized the two names in the guestbook. “Well, you see, both of these names- Mulholland and Temple- I not only …show more content…
The first victim is an elderly, nearly innocent man, murdered by an insane man only because of the appearance of his eye. “It was open- wide, wide open- and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I thought was perfect distinctness- all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very morrow in my bones…” (page 204) Once again, old man is a victim of stalking by the very same man who killed him. “And this I did for seven long nights- every night just at midnight- but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who next to me, but his Evil Eye .”(page 203) Furthermore, the murderer was a victim of his own insanity. “True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am;but why will you say that I am mad? The disease and sharpened my senses- not destroyed- not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?” (page 203) With that in mind, it is obvious that this murderer is suffering from

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