Analysis Of Horacio Quiroga And Edgar Allan Poe s ``...

Horacio Quiroga and Edgar Allan Poe are two of the most influential writers in history. They both wrote disturbing stories that are based upon their similarly rough lives. In fact, Quiroga has been referred to as â€Å"The Poe of Latin America† (Niece 1). However, it is important to note that although these authors have many similarities, they also have several significant differences, both in their writing and in their personal life stories. Both Poe and Quiroga had death and mental illness as central themes throughout their lives. Poe’s parents both died within his first three years of life, and he had parental figures that also died when he was young (Poe Museum 1). Because of those deaths, Poe had a long history of mental illness, especially depression (Poe Museum 1). Similarly, Horacio Quiroga also struggled with depression. Like Poe, Quiroga also lost his father at a very young age. Quiroga’s mother misunderstood him, which only made him even more unhappy. He â€Å"viewed life as an endless struggle for survival and eventually committed suicide in a hospital† at age 58 (Niece 1). Poe’s short story â€Å"The Telltale Heart† is very similar to Quiroga’s short story â€Å"The Decapitated Chicken† because they both have a dominating theme of death. In â€Å"The Decapitated Chicken†, Quiroga writes, â€Å"She could cry no more. One of the boys squeezed her neck, parting her curls as if they were feathers, and the other three dragged her by one leg toward the kitchen where that morning the chicken