“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Get in groups of 3 or 4 – teacher selected. Enjoy discussing effectively with your classmates!

Assign roles to your group members Discussion Director – keeps discussions on track, gets group’s work, helps manage time, makes sure all members contribute to discussion, keeps track of absent students Reader – reads questions aloud to group Spokesperson– will speak for the group if called upon by the teacher Researcher – looks up evidence in text, unfamiliar vocabulary, information, etc. to support group (groups of 3 will combine the roles of Spokesperson & Researcher)

Discuss ALL parts of your PLOT graphic organizer with your group Discuss ALL parts of your PLOT graphic organizer with your group. Make sure to check with your teacher to see if answers are correct before moving on.

2. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is told from the murderer’s point of view 2. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is told from the murderer’s point of view. Is this an effective device to use to tell this story? Describe how the final scene in the story would be different if it were told from the point of view of one of the policeman. WHY do you think Poe chose to write from the narrator’s point of view? Do you like that he did this?

3. The author chooses the simile “sound [such] as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” at two different points in “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Describe why, in both cases, the simile is a dramatic and useful tool for the author.

4. Some of the information is suspect because the only source is an unreliable narrator. Discuss 3 questions you would like to ask a more reliable source. Explain how each question would help you better understand the motivations behind and effects of the murder.

5. Discuss all the references to time in the story—watches, clocks, time passing, etc. Why is the narrator so concerned with time?