1a. What is the narrator's plan for the old man?
2a. What about the old man bothers the narrator, and why?
3a. What sound does the narrator hear while he is talking to the police officers?
4a. What characteristics of the narrator make him seem sane? What characteristics of the narrator make him or her seem insane?
5a. What could the old man have thought was happening? Do you think he knew who was watching him? Why do you think he reacted the way he did?
1b. Why does he go about his plan in this particular way?
2b. Why might this feature be so troublesome for the narrator?
3b. What do you think the police see and hear while they are with the narrator? What might they conclude from the visit?
4b. What do you think the narrator's mental state is in the beginning of the story? What do you think the narrator's mental state is by the end of the story? Has the narrator changed? Has he remained the same? Explain your answer.
5b. What would the old man have thought if he knew how the narrator felt about his eye? How would he have reacted, knowing also that the narrator "loved the old man"?
Suspense. Which passages in the story create the most suspense for you? Did you try to guess what would happen next? If so, were you correct?
Narrator. Review your graphic organizer listing the traits of the narrator. Which important details about the narrator are not revealed in the story? Why do you think the author chose not to include those details?
Point of View. Why do you think the author used the first-person point of view in this story? How might the story have differed if Poe had used the third-person point of view?
1. Write a brief sequel to the story, featuring a future episode of the narrator's life.
2. From the point of view of the police officers, write a police report explaining their findings at the old man's home.
3. Write a literary review of "The Tell-Tale Heart," explaining what you liked about the story and/or what you did not like about the story. Either recommend the story to readers or advise them not to read it.
Interjections. An interjection is a word which expresses emotion and does not have grammatical relation to other words in the sentence. An interjection often begins a thought or sentence. The interjection is in italics below.
Example My goodness! That car was driving fast.
Following are ten interjections. Write a sentence to accompany each of the interjections provided.
1. Hooray!
2. Gasp!
3. Wow!
4. Sigh
5. Aha!
6. Oh
7. Alas! or Oh, no!
8. Eek!
9. Wait!
10. Awww
Using I and ME. Before using the words I and me in a sentence, remember that I is always the subject of a verb and me is always the object of a verb or preposition. Review the rules for using I and me correctly in the Language Arts Survey 3.41, "Using I and Me." Then identify the word in parentheses that completes each sentence correctly.
1. click to select answer Me am not insane. No! Not click to select answer I me !
2. click to select answer I Me believe that the old man trusted click to select answer I Me completely.
3. To think that click to select answer I me was capable of murder—unbelievable!
4. click to select answer I Me laughed an evil laugh to think of the old man's terror.
5. The horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe disturb click to select answer I me .
6. The officers mocked click to select answer I me —they knew click to select answer I me had committed the crime!
7. If you ask click to select answer I me , there is too much violence on television.
8. click to select answer I me lie! How can you suspect click to select answer I me of such a thing?
9. Arrest click to select answer I me , click to select answer I me say!
10. He is partly to blame, for he gave it to click to select answer I me —the key to his chamber.
