Proof or Evidence There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man (137, The Black Cat). Edgar Allan Poe uses his deviant sense of description throughout his pieces of literature. The Black Cat shows Poe’s descriptive and unusual sense of detail to capture the attention of readers. It is important to have concrete detail as such, in literature because it is the foundation to theme, rhythm and contrast in a story. Detail helps develop these essential building blocks to help develop a story. Such as Poe’s passage above, detail allows readers to become interested and familiar with the content. It allows readers’ to use their imagination, to create a picture of the environment. Readers create an understanding of the content when the five senses are analyzed. At the introduction to The Black Cat, we quickly begin to realize there is an unknown narrator that claims he is sane. As we read on we realize he is faced with a drinking problem and expresses great love for cat’s. As he describes his relations with the cat, he shares a mutual respect for the fidelity of friendship with Pluto, unlike any relationship he has shared with man-kind. This description allows us to compare his lifestyle interaction among humans and cat’s. Finding the information at the beginning of the story helps us indentify his reasoning for future choices. The unknown narrator feels no remorse on his effects throughout. Poe, despite his unusual taste of abnormal imagery, gives readers a descriptive picture of the environment created. He allows readers to feel the guilt; the unknown author carries with him through out the story. His conscience after killing Pluto and his wife leave him delusional. These details are so important because throughout the story we recognize the unknown author carries guilt and I believe he has the desire to confess but refuses to accept responsibility. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in coloured church windows- sort of tragic and serene (81, A Rose For Emily). Details such as this passage, describes Miss Emily’s importance and involvement with the community. Miss Emily was referenced to a statue, idol from the old southern fashion and a fallen monument but not once a human being. These details are so concrete because we see the town trying to preserve the past, just as she was trying to preserve a person that meant so much to her. At the beginning of the short story her father left her when she was younger. For the rest of her life, she was scared to be alone. This detail foreshadows her attempt to preserve Homer, as the towns’ people, attempt to preserve her like a dead image of the old South. Without knowing her past, we would have no evidence to her attempts on preserving a corpse.
Faulkner and Poe use the five senses to create concrete detail, which allows readers to experience the overall events that take place. Detail is used in the two stories as a foundation of events. Faulkner uses lots of contrast and comparing for detail. He is always comparing Miss Emily to a historical legend because she is old and an idol to the community. Preserving someone she loves, as the town is