Poe, Halloween, and the Irrational Fear Behind Both!

I first read The Pit and the Pendulum in the 9^th grade, and I absolutely hated it. I have a very overactive imagination that made everything I read or watched, 10 times more intense than they actually were. My imagination is still just as overactive, but I am now better able to control it. When I first read The Pit and the Pendulum, I remember shaking as I read each and every word, my imagination conjuring up images I had no want to see. I remember reading about the pendulum getting closer with each pass, I was so afraid and my heart was in my throat as I read.

As I reread the story this week, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the detail Poe put into his works. I guess that’s why he’s considered to be such a great author. As the beginning of this story was read out loud in class, I couldn’t help but think how ironic it is that we read these Poe stories right before Halloween. The suspense fits perfectly with the season of fear. The fear of the unknown, which is what Halloween really is, in the most simple of definitions. All Hallows Eve, the night when people left gifts for those unhappy spirits they knew nothing about, for fear that something evil could happen.

Perhaps the reason I hated The Pit and the Pendulum when I was younger was because I had no idea what I should imagine. I was afraid of the unknown elements I was being introduced to. My mind had to make something new up and as I had no starting point to go from, I had to pull from the most extreme recesses of my thoughts.

When I first heard we were going to be reading Poe this week, I thought I wouldn’t enjoy anything we went over. But the discussion we had in class, left me on the edge of my seat, wishing the class could continue indefinitely. Poe no longer scares me as much as he did when I was younger, because I can now understand and comprehend more. I now know more information and there is less of the unknown element to his works.

Now, I must return to writing my Sociology paper and studying for the midterms I have tomorrow. Good luck to all my fellow classmates, I know everyone will do well.

Until next week,

~Meghan

P.S. I commented on Jamie Kilpatrick’s Buried in Thought