In The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl by Ray Bradbury and The Tell

In The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl by Ray Bradbury and The Tell

Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe both authors have to convince the

reader that the main character is mad. How do they do that? Which

portrayal is more effective? Why?

This essay will explore which madman is portrayed the best. Both

stories deal with an obsession and a madness of some sort. In ' The

Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl' by Ray Bradbury the main character is

William Action who frantically cleans trying to cover up the murder.

Not knowing he is going mad. In ' The Tell Tale Heart' the man has an

obsession with his masters eye, which drives him mad but he does not

believe himself that he is mad.

In 'The Tell Tale Heart' the characters motive is his masters

"vulture's eye" which is shown by saying " I think it was his eye!

Yes, it was this! Also when he says " One of his eyes resembled that

of a vulture.

In 'The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" the characters motive is that

his wife is having an affair this is shown by the character saying, "

Where's my wife, Huxley? " and " I need one. I can't believe Lily's

gone that she-". The first characters motive suggests madness because

why would you want to kill a man just because of his eye. The second

one stands to reason because if you find out your wife was having an

affair the first thing you would want to do is kill the other person

In ' The Tell Tale Heart' the narration is first person, so that the

readers can put themselves there, the character addresses them

directly, It also give you an insight into the characters most inner

thoughts and feelings.

In ' Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl ' the narration is third person

with stream of consciousness. This allows you to feel as thought you

are watching the events unfold and that you become omnipotent. The

narration method of ' The Tell Tale Heart' is more effective and

convinces the reader of the main characters madness because you can

tell the characters most inner thoughts and feelings as he addresses

you unlike ' Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl ' which only shows you

the actions and doesn't give you an insight to his mental well being.

In 'Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl ' the characters attitude to the

dead body and crime is one of calmness, although he was still

conscious that his actions could be traced via his fingertips on the