Carmen H. Response 7

Everything about the story, “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” by Edgar Allen Poe, seems exaggerated. Many of the features in the story such as the setting, the dinner table, the characters physical attire, and even the way that the characters explain stories. Whether its a story about themselves or not. It all seem very dramatic and grotesque, never in an appealing manner. I wonder why the author decided to incorporate such applications to his story? It doesn’t make it seem more interesting, but instead it justifies the characters to seem even more out of the normal. They are trying so hard to fit in within a category, the sane, in order to be considered normal. But in my opinion, I believe the author was trying to make the reader raise a question about sanity in society. Is there really an existential subscription of the word sane? Do we believe being sane is always a good thing? What is insanity? Who could really be considered insane? Can someone sane become insane? Is there any possibility that you become what other people describe you of being? For example, if people assume that you are weird, and they constantly keep reminding you, you will learn to accept it, and unconsciously begin behaving as such. Its a part of human nature, and we learn to live with this reality in order for it to not have a negative effect on us. And it is highly possible that the same thing happens with insanity. This is probably what happened to Maillard in the story. He is an intelligent man, who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, people began to suspect of him, categorizing him as one of his patients, and he probably started acting upon this category.