My Thoughts
This story was quite a pleasant surprise! I very much enjoyed the awkward tension constantly increased during the feast with the "staff" of the Maison de Santé. I kept dithering between the idea of the staff being made up of lunatics and being simply southern French oddballs. Poe slowly introduces small clues during the feast to convince the reader of the truth but then adds additional detail that gives some doubt.
It wasn't until I was about 75% done with the story that I realized the Tar and Feather reference in the title. Monsieur Maillard's sanity was quite convincing and was the main reason I didn't suspect the dinner party of being crazy at the start. I believe Poe thought of himself as a little insane. This isn't the first story that Poe references a thin line between genius and insanity.
Keeping these impressions in view, I was cautious in what I said before the young lady; for I could not be sure that she was sane; and, in fact, there was a certain restless brilliancy about her eyes which half led me to imagine she was not.
Another quote that caught my eye was the following:
Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
This quote was probably very relevant at the time as it still remains today. It often reminds me how amazing the human race is. We have advanced light years in the realm of technology, science, and medicine, but we are still afflicted by common issues from not only the days of Poe but the days of Cicero as well as the days of Socrates and Anaxagoras. Do you remember how Abraham Lincoln stressed how important and necessary the verification of information found on the internet was?
My Rating
I rate this short story a 4 out of 5. It was very entertaining with a little mystery and a nice twist that slowly unwound throughout the story rather than a big twist all at once at the end. I do wish the ending was elaborated a little more. Did the staff corral all of the patients? What happened to Monsieur Maillard?
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