The Life Of Allan Poe And How They Contributed To His Literary Style (Essay Sample)

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“The Man of the Crowd” and “The Purloined Letter” Analysis
With his influence in fiction writings, Poe has contributed to the advancement of this genre based on the suspense and development of characters in his stories. The suspense and the intrigue in the storylines and the use of powerful characters have significantly influenced fictional detective writing. “The Man of the Crowd” and “The Purloined Letter” have contradictory styles of writing, which is the core purpose of conducting the analysis between the two publications.
An analysis of the characters in the two stories indicates the presence of an aspect of mystic in the author’s works. The mystery surrounding the old man in “The Man of the Crowd” is developed to an extent that by the end of the story, the audience remains unaware of his traits. The narrator highlights several characteristics of the man, but falls short to give conclusive attributes although he quickly does this for other characters. Similarly, in the “The Purloined Letter” the story concludes before the reader can understand the contents of the letter. This style of writing endeared Poe to readers that wanted a level of mystery in literature. The author successfully manages to tell a story without actually telling it: by the end of the two literary works, the reader has no conclusive explanations to key issues in these two pieces. Subsequently, Poe created a multiplicity of possible interpretations to his writing, which invoked curiosity among his audience. Interestingly, similar mystic surrounds the author’s death, as was his writing, which is exemplified in these two pieces. Arguably, Poe left his followers with an unresolved story to unravel on how he died: some even believe he faked his death.
In the evaluation of the ideas that Poe has in the two stories and comparing with his other publications, it can be noted that the author is invested in the aspect of mystery. The comparison between the two works indicates another aspect of similarity based on the genre of the writings. The descriptions of the old man based on the perspectives of the narrator try to depict the societal factors of crime detection, and the broad realm of social vices can be noted in “The Purloined Letter”. In both literary pieces, the wide genre of mystery uncovers other crimes within the respective cities. The commitment to mysterious characters can also be indicated as a link between the two works. The pattern of mystery in the publications is noted to have critical criminal detection aspects as Poe describes other illegal activities.
The change in the way things go unread between the two stories can be noted through the evaluation of the endings of the stories. At the end of “The Man in the Crowd”, the character of the mysterious old man goes unread, which indicates the factor of an unsolved crime in society. When comparing the depiction of this story in comparison to “The Purloined Letter”, the mystery is solved by Duplin and the letter is recovered at the end. The processes undergone by the police in solving the crime are evaluated in the story and the manner in which Duplin steps in to address the crime by finding the letter. The change in the way things go unread can be indicated by the evaluation of the level of mystery in the stories.
The underlying theme in both stories is so...