Read the excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart.” TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story. Read the excerpt from "The Black Cat.” Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place—some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. Both narrators are unreliable because they both
Answer
A
fear for their lives.
B
are unusually calm.
C
feel agitated and anxious.
D
admit to being irrational.
Explanation
Both narrators reveal that their emotions may cloud their accounts. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” says he is “very, very dreadfully nervous,” while the narrator of “The Black Cat” describes himself as “excitable” and recounts events with awe. Their agitation and anxiety make them less trustworthy, so the correct choice is “feel agitated and anxious.”
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