Kreepy Kernels

One of my teacher friends used Gretchen Bernabei's Pet Peeve kernel essay breakout boxes to summarize the Tell-Tale Heart. Their job was to take the perspective of the narrator and explain what he hated so much, the beating heart or the vulture eye. Here's two examples:

What I saw first:

I was living with an old man, whom I did not have a problem with until I saw the pale blueness of his vulture eye. It was like it was screaming to torture me with its menacing looks.

What I said to myself:

I wanted some way to just...gouge that eyeball out and dispose of it. Maybe eat it? No, I would smash it. I didn't want to harm the old man, for I had no problem with him. I just had to do something.

What else I saw:

Later on, I was taking care of the old man, like usual, and I saw that eye again. Every time I saw it, I would start to turn white with much sickening in my stomach.

What I decided:

I decided to conceive a plan to kill the old man. This would be much better than to watch him suffer of having only one good eyeball.

What I know now:

I know now that killing the old man because of his eye was foolish, but at least now I am with better thoughts. I know that it was my own heart beating that night, and my mind vexed me to insanity.

_______

What I saw first: I saw the old man first. Something about him was just absolutely unbearable.

What I said to myself: It's the eye! The old man's ghastly blue eye. It had an illustrious layer of film over it.

What else I saw: I saw how the old man acted, calm, with a conspicuous way of sleeping.

What I decided: In that moment, I decided to kill him. The old man's eye was full of derision. Everything about it was taunting me. I planned meticulously how to kill him. IN the darkness of night, I killed him. Suffocation. I listened as the screams of agony came. Finally, it stopped. It was over.

What I know now: I now know that it is gone. I know it will taunt me no longer.