Summary
The "Angel of the Odd" is told by an unknown narrator who tells the story of a chilly
afternoon in November. The narrator just had a marvelous dinner with a couple of bottles of wine, spirit and liqueur. He confesses he is a little drunk but he’s aware of his actions. He looks upon newspapers columns called “Houses to let” and the column of “Dogs lost” and then the columns of “wives and apprentices runaway”. He reads each and every one of them even though it’s in Chinese but feels no satisfaction out of it. Until he reads about a strange death in the London paper and he becomes bewildered because he thinks it’s all a hoax. The narrator starts ranting about the strange death that happen and out of the blue he hears a remarkable voice. At first he thinks he’s just hearing things because he was drunk. Then he hears the voice again and looks to the side where he sees the man. The narrator describes that the man’s body, legs and arms to be rather odd. The narrator finds that the odd man is rather a pest then a blessing to have because he talks loud and is obnoxious. The man says that he’s an angel but the narrator questions him by spouting out “Then why don’t you have wings”? The angel then replies chickens have wings but not angels. From then on the narrator does not question him. Then man introduces himself as the Angel of the Odd. The narrator finally has the courage to send the Angel of Odd away when he finally throws a salt-cellar at the head of the angel. After that event the Angel of Odd doesn’t go away and starts to annoy the narrator. Finally he disappears and the
narrator decides to have some glasses of Lafitte to forget about the whole thing. He goes into drunken mode and lets the alcohol soak into his system. He then falls asleep and dreams about
the Angel of Odd. In his dream he decides he wants to marry a widow but then when he is close to marry her she suddenly disappears. So he tries to commit suicide a couple of times until the Angel of Odd shows up. At the end the narrator does wake up but in a rather unusual
spot.
afternoon in November. The narrator just had a marvelous dinner with a couple of bottles of wine, spirit and liqueur. He confesses he is a little drunk but he’s aware of his actions. He looks upon newspapers columns called “Houses to let” and the column of “Dogs lost” and then the columns of “wives and apprentices runaway”. He reads each and every one of them even though it’s in Chinese but feels no satisfaction out of it. Until he reads about a strange death in the London paper and he becomes bewildered because he thinks it’s all a hoax. The narrator starts ranting about the strange death that happen and out of the blue he hears a remarkable voice. At first he thinks he’s just hearing things because he was drunk. Then he hears the voice again and looks to the side where he sees the man. The narrator describes that the man’s body, legs and arms to be rather odd. The narrator finds that the odd man is rather a pest then a blessing to have because he talks loud and is obnoxious. The man says that he’s an angel but the narrator questions him by spouting out “Then why don’t you have wings”? The angel then replies chickens have wings but not angels. From then on the narrator does not question him. Then man introduces himself as the Angel of the Odd. The narrator finally has the courage to send the Angel of Odd away when he finally throws a salt-cellar at the head of the angel. After that event the Angel of Odd doesn’t go away and starts to annoy the narrator. Finally he disappears and the
narrator decides to have some glasses of Lafitte to forget about the whole thing. He goes into drunken mode and lets the alcohol soak into his system. He then falls asleep and dreams about
the Angel of Odd. In his dream he decides he wants to marry a widow but then when he is close to marry her she suddenly disappears. So he tries to commit suicide a couple of times until the Angel of Odd shows up. At the end the narrator does wake up but in a rather unusual
spot.
Literary Elements
"The Angel of the Odd" features a very dynamic plot line, as the story throws the reader into many different places in rapid succession. The author describes very few things, but what he does describe is in great detail. Edgar Allen Poe also has HUMOR in this story, which is very rare. If the dialogue is read with the thick german accent it is supposed to be read in, it sounds very funny.
"The Angel of the Odd" features a very dynamic plot line, as the story throws the reader into many different places in rapid succession. The author describes very few things, but what he does describe is in great detail. Edgar Allen Poe also has HUMOR in this story, which is very rare. If the dialogue is read with the thick german accent it is supposed to be read in, it sounds very funny.
Review of "The Angel of the Odd"
"The Angel of the Odd" is a short humor story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was published in October of 1844 in Columbian Magazine. It tells the story of a man, who after reading of a strange death in the newspaper comments to himself on how he does not believe it. This draws the attention of the Angel of the Odd, a strange creature who punishes him with odd occurrences. One of the common conventions of older fiction that can make it very difficult to read is that of the accents. Writing out words phonically so that you can understand how they sound. This makes for a bit more personality in the character but it also can be, as in the case of the Angel of the Odd, very difficult to read. Perhaps that is part of the reason that this has largely fallen out of favor, though it also seems likely that the obsession with spelling that so many people have is a large part of it. People like to feel they are smarter and pointing out spelling 'errors' helps them do that, but they are often not smart enough to recognize when spelling is done differently intentionally. People also had more time to focus on a story and so having to stop and reads words phonically was not such an issue, and by the end of this story I could mostly read the speech of the angel of the odd without much trouble.
The story really begins when the Angel of the Odd appears though.
The humor in this story comes largely in the list off strange occurrences which happen to the man once he irritated the angel of the odd. The angel itself looks like it is made of a keg and wine bottles. This is no doubt an allusion to the fact that a great many of the odd events happen while people are drunk.
This story is reminiscent of the Darwin awards in many ways telling the stories of absurd ways to die and just as the stories which Poe was writing about a hundred and fifty years ago were so absurd that they were hard to believe people still are killing themselves in [foolish] ways and just like in the age of Poe it seem clear that a lot of these seem to involve large amounts of alcohol which may imply that the angel of the odd is still involved.
by: Elton Gahr
http://www.helium.com/items/1959726-short-story-reviews-the-angel-of-the-odd-by-edgar-allan-poe
The story really begins when the Angel of the Odd appears though.
The humor in this story comes largely in the list off strange occurrences which happen to the man once he irritated the angel of the odd. The angel itself looks like it is made of a keg and wine bottles. This is no doubt an allusion to the fact that a great many of the odd events happen while people are drunk.
This story is reminiscent of the Darwin awards in many ways telling the stories of absurd ways to die and just as the stories which Poe was writing about a hundred and fifty years ago were so absurd that they were hard to believe people still are killing themselves in [foolish] ways and just like in the age of Poe it seem clear that a lot of these seem to involve large amounts of alcohol which may imply that the angel of the odd is still involved.
by: Elton Gahr
http://www.helium.com/items/1959726-short-story-reviews-the-angel-of-the-odd-by-edgar-allan-poe
"The Angel of the Odd" Connected to the Real World
In the Total Recall Trailer the main character is put into his dreams to accomplish many tasks that lead him close enough to almost taste death, and the narrator in this short story has a drunken dream and goes on wild adventures and almost dies. Both characters seem to have a crazy dream where they are close to death but never reach it.
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The song is related to "The Angel of the Odd" because she is trying to escape danger in her song like how the main character is in the story. She is having a dream in this song because she said "I can't wake up" and the main character is also in a dream during most of the story.
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Persuasive Reasoning
"The Angel of the Odd" should be included in a 9th grade literature textbook, because the plot is riveting. It left the reader wanting to read to the end of the story. This story wasn't slow paced so that the reader would want to stop reading after the first several paragraphs, but the reader was interested the whole time, as they read the story. This story would be of interest to many teenagers, because the idea of supernatural things is popular among people today, and is evident in the number of horror/supernatural movies made. "The Angel of the Odd" was interesting, because it was completely different compared to most stories, mainly based off of realistic experiences. Supernatural/horror stories are liked by so many people, because of how they are so different, and the reader never knows what will happen next, and therefore continues reading.
The imagery used is what makes the reader feel as if they are actually there, and experiencing the story with the main character. The use of dialogue makes the readers enjoy the story even more, particularly because of the unique way the Angel of the Odd speaks to the narrator. The personality of the Angel of the Odd also makes the story more interesting to read. This story is unlike most of the previous supernatural stories, and keeps the reader engaged from the beginning to the end.
The imagery used is what makes the reader feel as if they are actually there, and experiencing the story with the main character. The use of dialogue makes the readers enjoy the story even more, particularly because of the unique way the Angel of the Odd speaks to the narrator. The personality of the Angel of the Odd also makes the story more interesting to read. This story is unlike most of the previous supernatural stories, and keeps the reader engaged from the beginning to the end.