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Willa Roberts
Cooper and Whipple
AP Lang p. 2 and AP U.S. History p. 5
29 October 2018

The Darkness Within: A Look into the Irrationality of the Human Mind

During the 19th century, the emergence of gothic literature transformed the American

consciousness and perception of the self and the surrounding world. America emerged from the

Revolutionary War with a strong sense of nationalism and a desire to expand. The principle of

Manifest Destiny reflected the rationalization of the cruel acts committed by Americans

throughout the process of westward expansion. At the same time of this period of expansion in

the Antebellum Era, Gothic literature began to spread and shape American attitudes. Gothic

literature began as a division of Romanticism, an artistic and intellectual movement focused on

freeing the imagination and connecting with nature, in striking contrast to the prior Age of

Reason that valued rational thinking. Gothic literature approached Romanticism with a darker

view of the world, however, and is centered around elements of the supernatural, an individual’s

potential for evil, and horror. One of the primary motifs found in Gothic literature, irrational

versus rational thinking, is clearly reflected in Manifest Destiny of the Antebellum Era and

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom

Walker.”

Edgar Allan Poe was a major author of the 19th century and he greatly influenced

American society with his gothic stories. One of his short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart,”

illustrates a character who spirals into insanity as he narrates his decision to kill an innocent old

man. The story begins with the main character assuring the reader that he is not crazy for what he
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has done and “the disease had sharpened [his] senses -- not destroyed -- not dulled them” (Poe

1). Poe cleverly begins the story with the main character trying to rationalize his evil thoughts

and express that his senses are in fact heightened, not hindered by his disease. This indicates to

the reader that this character may not be trustworthy because his thinking is disturbed and

irrational from the very beginning. When the main character continues to tell his story and claims

“object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me.

He had never given me insult,” it becomes clear that the main character’s murderous thoughts

had no basis in logical reason (Poe 2). The main character quickly jumps to rationalize his

statement, saying “I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!... I made up my mind to take the life of

the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe 2). He uses the old man’s eye as a way

to justify killing him and assures the reader he is only acting in self-defense because he is so

afraid of the eye. When he says “yes, it was this!” it appears as though he is making up this

justification on the spot, then reassuring himself in order to convince the reader of his sanity (Poe

2). Overall, Poe’s portrayal of the main character in “The Tell-Tale Heart” as he tries to cover up

his madness by rationalizing his evil thoughts reflects the Gothic motif of irrational vs. rational

thinking.

In Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker,” the motif of irrational vs. rational

thinking is revealed through Tom Walker’s possible encounter with the Devil. The conflict is

introduced when Tom took a short-cut through the woods and “...beheld a great black man seated

directly opposite him, on the stump of a tree. He was exceedingly surprised, having neither heard

nor seen any one approach” (Irving 2). That the man, referred to in the story as Old Scratch, is

introduced by appearing with no warning is important because it indicates that his character may

be of the supernatural. The Old Scratch, or the Devil, had been watching Tom and appeared in
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order to make an arrangement involving a great amount of treasure. When Tom asks "What

proof have I that all you have been telling me is true?” it reveals his doubt of the man’s promises

and furthermore his rationalization that this figure may only be his imagination (Irving 3). In

response to Tom’s question, the man presses his finger on Tom’s forehead and “when Tom

reached home he found the black print of a finger burned, as it were, into his forehead, which

nothing could obliterate” (Irving 4). This indestructible fingerprint clearly reflects the Old

Scratch’s magical powers and reveals to Tom that he has made an irreversible deal with the

Devil. Tom Walker is caught between the rational and the supernatural world, leaving the reader

to decide what is true. This confusion about the truth is a major element of gothic literature and

reflects the motif of irrational vs. rational thinking.

The same motif of irrational vs. rational thinking is present in American history during

the Antebellum period. Manifest Destiny was one of the core principles of the United States at

the start of the Antebellum period, as the new country emerged from the Revolution, and a belief

held by many Americans to justify moving west and expanding the nation’s territory. Manifest

Destiny created a divide in America between those who believed it was “inevitable, justified, and

benevolent” and the Americans’ divine right, and those who argued it violated American values

(Kuchera). Moving westward meant displacing and inflicting cruelty and aggression on the

Native Americans who were believed to be standing in the way of American progress. Manifest

Destiny was largely a self-serving concept “used to rationalize the removal of American Indians

from their native homelands” (“Manifest Destiny and Indian Removal”). John O’Sullivan is

credited with first using the term Manifest Destiny in “The Great Nation of Futurity” in which he

said “the far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness. In its

magnificent domain of space and time, the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to
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mankind the excellence of divine principles.” He emphasizes that America has great potential to

be an ideal nation based on equality and democracy, however, this can only be fulfilled by

expansion. Overall, irrational vs. rational thinking is reflected in westward expansion because

many Americans rationalized encroaching on Native territory and displacing or killing all who

lived there, believing it was a divinely-ordained right for the greater good of the nation, while

others argued this was irrational because it contradicted the core values of liberty and equality

America on which was founded.

The visual element I created connects irrationality vs. rationality found in Manifest

Destiny and the action of moving westward and both Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Irving’s

“The Devil and Tom Walker.” I drew a picture of a man’s face to represent Romanticism and

Gothic literature’s curiosity about the individual. The face has a fingerprint on the forehead,

symbolizing Tom Walker’s permanent connection to the Devil and the supernatural world. The

main character in “The Tell-Tale Heart” rationalizes killing the old man because of his fear of his

eye, so I made the man’s right eye blue as Poe describes. The premise of my visual piece is that

the truth can often be confusing and the reader has to discern what is true in both literary pieces.

The purpose of the magnifying glass is to take a closer look at the fingerprint, the eye, and the

outline of the country to the right to find the hidden meaning. I wanted to create the impression

of peering into the person’s mind through the eye and the forehead to see the darker ideas that

exist there. The words that can be seen through the magnifying glass connect back to the

irrational justifications of westward expansion, such as “God’s will,” “wicked ambition,”

“supremacy,” “glory,” and more.

In conclusion, the motif of irrationality vs. rationality found in Gothic literature of the

Romantic Era altered the way Americans perceived the world around them. In a time of drastic
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change with the emergence of new ideas, Americans channeled their apprehension about the

unknown future into art and literature reflecting the darker elements of society.
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Works Cited

Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Page By Page Books, 1824,

https://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Washington_Irving/The_Devil_And_Tom_Walker/T

he_Devil_And_Tom_Walker_p1.html. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

Kuchera, Carolyn. “Manifest Destiny.” Oxford Bibliographies, 28 June 2016,

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-

9780199827251-0024.xml. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

“Manifest Destiny and Indian Removal.” Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM),

https://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Manifest-Destiny-and-

Indian-Removal.pdf. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

O’Sullivan, John L. “The Great Nation of Futurity.” The United States Democratic Review,

1839, Volume 6, Issue 23, pp. 426-430.

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/osulliva.htm. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Tell Tale Heart.” The Poe Museum, 1843,

https://www.poemuseum.org/the-tell-tale-heart. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

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