Referring to any literary text familiar to you, identify its various voices and explain how effectively the writer uses these voices to bring out his message ASIIMWE RUTH

A voice in literature is the form or a format through which narrators tell their stories. It is prominent when a writer places himself / herself into words and provides a sense the character is real person conveying a specific message the writer intends to convey. In simple words, it is an author’s individual writing style or point of view. When a writer engages personally with a topic, in fact, he imparts his personality to that piece of literature. This individual personality is different from other individual personalities, other writers put into their own works. Thus, voice is a unique personality of a literary work. Depending upon the type of work, authors may use a single voice, or multiple voices. While identifying the function of voices in literature, itis necessary to consider the narrator’s degree of objectivity, reliability, andomniscience. Voices shows whose eyes readerssee the narrativethrough thatgives a personality to a literary piece. Moreover, a strong voice helpsmaking every wordcount, sets up consistency and most importantly grabs the readers’ attention. EdgarAllanPoe’ short story,The Tell-Tale Heart is an example of first person unreliable narrative voice, which is significantlyacknowledged, biased, childish and ignorant, who purposely tries to deceive the readers. As the story proceeds, the reader notices the voice is unusual, characterized by starts and stops. The character directly talks to the readers, showing highly exaggerated and wrought style.It is obvious that effectiveness of the story relies on style, voice and structure, whichreveal the diseased state of mind of the narrator. The point of view is an important aspect of telling the story. First person narration helps the reader to understand and follow the story from the narrator’s point of view. In this case it helps the reader to realize how insane the narrator is. Eventhough 1st person narration is not the best form of narration, as everything we read is the way the narrator looks at things, but it is the only way a reader can actually feel and experience what the narrator is experiencing. It helps the reader to get a good feel of the emotions, his state of mind and his madness.so I feel that in "The Tell-Tale Heart" first person narration plays an important part in enhancing the theme of madness. Edgar Allan Poe's classic horror story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a monologue told completely from the viewpoint of one of its characters. The narrator is a mentally unstable murderer who asserts that he is sane despite his horrible acts and delusions that include hearing his victim's heart beat loudly after death. A narrator shapes a story's viewpoint. When Poe chose one of his story's characters as the storyteller, he was using a technique called first-person voice. A first-person narrator refers to himself as "I" and may participate in or witness the story's action. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator is the central participant. The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" shares the story from his own, personal perspective; thus the story is told in a first-person point of view. By using personal pronouns such as I, me, and my, the narrator is able to tell his tale as only he can experience it. Any other point of view, like omniscient, for example, would give the audience a look into the minds of other characters in the story, not just the narrator's. The first-person point of view is what makes this story so chilling. At the beginning of the story, the narrator asserts that he is not "mad" but instead completely sane. As the story progresses, the reader comes to realize that he is truly insane and is therefore an unreliable narrator: his words cannot be trusted. The demented views of this narrator give the audience a disturbing look into the mind of a seriously sadistic person, and add to the author's overall haunting tone. The story opens in the first-person voice of the narrator, acknowledging that he has been very nervous. Yet he disavows madness, using the "evidence" that his hearing is keen and he's now relating the story calmly. The writer wants to reassure his audience that he loved the old man with whom he lived and has now killed -- and didn't want the old man's gold. He shifts to explaining how he accomplished the murder, with his only motivation being the old man's "pale blue eye, with a film over it." The reader isn't told exactly why this eye agitates or offends the narrator. The narrator describes how "a simple dim ray" from his lantern falls upon the old man's vulture-like eye each night as he steals into the older man's room. This is intriguing imagery, because lamps and lanterns can symbolize protection against evil. Poe seems to be having a bit of fun suggesting that the narrator's lantern is insufficient protection against the eye's power or perceived power. The narrator kills the old man on the eighth night, and recounts the process of dismembering the body and placing the parts under his floorboards. Three police officers arrive, who have been alerted by a neighbor who heard a shriek. The relentless heartbeat is another major symbol, suggesting the sound of the narrator's own conscience or fear. The writer assures the officers it was only a nightmare and provides them chairs after touring them through the home. They begin a friendly conversation, and as their calm chatter goes into the night, the narrator becomes increasingly agitated. He's certain that they also hear the beating heart and are toying with him. Soon he breaks down and reveals the location of the body. Poe repeats a number of words throughout this brief story for increased effect: louder and louder; very, very; and nervous, for example. The word "mad" is repeated a great many times. The story opens with the narrator's mysterious insistence that he has "heard all things in heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell." This strange claim is immediately followed by the contradictory question, "How, then, am I mad?" It also ties in with his use of the word "disease" to describe his nervous troubles as the story opens. Prior to the murder, he speaks of listening night after night to "the death watches in the wall," and projects this same act of nervous listening onto his victim. Poe's emphasis on ticking and beating in the story underscores the narrator's insanity plainly for the reader. The tale is told in the first person by the confessed murderer of an old man, and as the tale progresses, the reader quickly notices that all may not be as it seems with the narrator. From the very first paragraph, in fact, it is apparent that the voice in which the story is told is an unusual one, characterized by stops and starts, direct addresses to the reader, and an exaggerated and highly wrought style. The emotionally charged narrative hints to the reader that the narrator’s version of events may not be wholly reliable. When the tale begins, the main action -- that is, the murder and dismemberment of the old man -- has already taken place. While the reader is likely to be caught up in the horrific tale being revealed to him, the narrator’s focus seems to be very different, and the pace and structure of the narrative reflect that focus. Concerned primarily with convincing his listener of his level-headedness and sanity and the reasonableness of his actions, the story’s narrator circles around the main event, emphasizing not so much what happened but how it happened. Since the story is, more than anything, about the narrator’s emotional state, the most important moment is not the murder of the old man. The murder itself is given short shrift by the narrator, taking only one sentence to accomplish: “In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.” Rather, the real climax of the story occurs when the narrator’s perception of the sound of the old man’s heart pushes him closer and closer to panic, finally causing him to confess. Like the narrative structure, the narrative style of the story reflects the disordered, “nervous” state of the narrator’s mind. “Why will you say that I am mad?” the narrator demands of his listener. Stylistically, the narrator’s heavy use of exclamation points, dashes, repeated questions and assertions of his own sanity serves to heighten the emotional impact on the reader, pushing the reader toward an understanding of the narrator’s troubled mind. The author uses the first person point of view in describing his character. He uses the pronoun “I”. There is also use of second person because he uses the pronoun “you” and he is as if he is talking to you, commanding the reader to believe his thoughts. The author also uses third person narrative voice. Third person narrative voice employs category of third person point of view.He uses the pronoun “his” and “he” in describing the motions of the old man. Thus bringing out the theme of dehumanization and sadism, the old man is killed mercilessly and the narrator finds joy in killing. REFERENCES The Tell-Tale Heart; Edgar Allan Poe Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart; E. Arthur Robinson Ohio University: Points of View and Narrative Voice Poetry Foundation: Edgar Allan Poe -- 1809-1849 Poe Museum: Edgar Allan Poe Biography Mystery and Oddity in Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart; Abadli Farida University of Michigan: Dictionary of Symbolism: The Lamp Bits and Pieces II -- Selected Quotations About Edgar Allan Poe