Aware of Surroundings, Unaware of Self Essay --

In Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell Tale Heart, both protagonists are stricken with hypersensitivity. And ultimately, the acute senses of Roderick Usher from FHU and of the narrator from TTH prevent them from recognizing their own culpability. One would expect that through their acute awareness, Roderick Usher and the narrator would acquire a greater recognition of their own faults. Yet, strangely, both characters are unable to recognize their own culpability in the deaths of those around them. Once readers analyze the distracted behaviors of both characters as well as the parallel language of Poe, they will realize that Usher and the narrator accuse their peers of their own flaws because they are truly unaware of their own weaknesses. It becomes clear that both character’s hypersensitivities cause them to be overly distracted by their surroundings; and they are therefore too distracted to recognize their own faults. Ush er’s inability to perform basic human functions gives evidence to the magnitude with which his hypersensitivity disrupts his daily life. Similarly, the narrator in TTH’s obsession with the old man’s eye distracts him from thinking rationally. The narrator’s distracted state causes him to rationalize his crime, rather than recognizing his responsible for the murder. Ultimately, the hypersensitivity of both characters is a hindrance to their self-awareness, as it causes them to be in a perpetual state of distraction, and consequently both characters are unable to recognize responsibility for their own missteps. Before analyzing Poe’s stories, it is essential to recognize that both Usher and the Narrator suffer from hypersensitivity as demonstrated by their... ...eart!" (TTH). Usher and the narrator project different personas, Usher calls his friend â€Å"mad† while the narrator calls the police villains, yet they both exude their own personal flaws onto their counterparts. Usher’s rant attests to the confused state his mind was in. His inability to perceive his own madness is manifest when he declares his friend â€Å"madman†, rather than recognizing his own irrational behavior. Likewise, the narrator in TTH calls the police â€Å"villains†, at the moment when evidence of the extent of his own villainous is revealed. Although he willfully murders an old man, the narrator calls the police villains. The fact that both characters chose to project their flaws onto others, rather acknowledging their own faults gives testimony to the fact that both of Poe’s characters lacked the self awareness necessary to recognize their own shortcomings.