Poe

Poe had a very dark depressing life. He didn’t have much of a father figure and his mother died when he was young from tuberculosis. He had some siblings but a few of them also died from illness. Throughout his stories you could tell he was a sketchy guy and his life was far from perfect. Death is a common theme in most of his stories. For example “The Masque of the Red Death.” In this story, a country is haunted by a deadly plague called the Red Death. It sweeps across the nation quickly, much like the Black Plague did in Europe. If you were to catch the Red Death, you were quarantined and shut out from the help of others. The disease is very similar to tuberculosis, which was a huge part of Poe’s life. His mother, foster mother, and wife all died of tuberculosis. I think the loss of his loved ones influenced his writings in a huge way. In “The Black Cat” the main character ends up killing his favorite cat the only animal he ever liked. Poe had a hard time dealing with the loss of his loved ones, turning him mean and angry. The man also killed his wife in this story showing his unwillingness to feel anything. Poe had gotten to the point where he could no longer feel the pain and I think that had a huge impact on most of his writings.