Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Birthmark and Dr Heidegger's Experiment

You should probably read up on the actual stories: The Birthmark and Dr Heidegger's Experiment, before reading the analysis below.

Tale Share: You've Come Out, and You've Come Out again

We like labeling things. We like binaries. We like our equations simple. So we find it hard to digest that nothing is ever really binary. The colours in this world are in a spectrum, as is gender.

Now, that is a hard concept for people to get in the west itself, which, let's admit, is a tad bit ahead of us in the acceptance of the non "normal" than us. US legalised same sex marriage, did you hear? We Indians on the other hand, are still grappling with the fact that transgender are people. What I wish for a day when I don't hear, "Which bathroom will they use!?"

Anyway, I digress. The point is, when a natural selection of sex itself is hard for us to see as a spectrum, I really don't see much hope for gender identification, which is more of a conscious choice than nature selecting sex organs for us.

I came across this one short story, written by Shikhar Vyas on The Cake, set in this nice world with nice people, who are supportive, and willing to learn, and don't ask if you have sex with yourself if you are an asexual. This, I would like to share with you. You can read the complete article on the Cake's Facebook page, linked above. Here I give you some snippets that stuck with me. Read on.

Edgar Allen Poe: The Black Cat & The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe definitely had a thing for all things horrific - murders, evil incarnate cats, and guilt. It has been suggested that this is mainly due to Poe's own miserable life - it is well known he struggled with depression and alcoholism, and it is possible he wrote in this manner as a warning to the reader about his own world view.

Here I read through two of his stories - The Black Cat (1845) and The Tell-Tale Heart (1850), both dealing with murders in their own right, and the way the human psyche deals with the act of murder. To read the stories, click on the links above. For the analysis, read on below.

Edgar Allen Poe: The Oval Portrait

The oval portrait is about a painter who loved his wife, and loved painting over her. What happens when he decides to bring his two loves together, and paint his wife forms a telling narrative on humanity's eternal pursuit for immortality, and our focus on perfection. To read the story itself, click here. To read a brief summary and analysis of the different themes, read on.

Hawthorne and Poe: Introduction

To know more about this section, read on.