The Purloined Letter,” written by Edgar Allen Poe was indeed a story for a detective. Well written with precise details that brought an assortment of confusion at times, I felt this short story also had a twist of wit and a drip of seriousness. At first the story seemed it was on a very severe intensity, however, the wit buzzed in when there such analogies spoken. The story was concerning a letter that was missing. It was not just any letter. This letter was of great importance to the Perfect. Dupin, one of the detective said the police”…were not only the best of their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter been deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, beyond a question, have found it.” This statement is very accurate. Poe went into great detail of the search that took place. It was mind boggling that they did not uncover it. Ultimately, Dupin was the one who returned the letter to the Perfect. Dupin goes on to explain how he was able to find the letter. He said, “It is merely…an identification of the reason or’s intellect with that of his opponent.” Which he meant that being able to know the thief’s motives and expression of face helped him find the letter.
The difficulties that I experienced reading this story were the metaphors that were randomly placed. For the author, I know they were placed for a reason, however, in my opinion it seems to misconstrue the importance of the main gist of the story, the letter that was missing. What was written in the letter? That’s what I really wanted to know. Instead of asking why, I started to understand that the letter really wasn’t the idea of this story. I had to accept it was the motives of the characters than the actual letter missing. The main concept of the story is about figuring one’s motive with another motive