"The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843) written by Edgar Allan Poe, and "The Vandals" (1994) written by Alice Munro are two gothic short stories which deal with inexplicable, psychotic behaviours. In the first story, "The Tell-Tale Heart", an insane man kills and dismembers an old man for no sane, explainable reason. In "The Vandals" a young womans childhood is catapulted into the future, where the reader is left in the dark about the reasoning for her outrageous behavior. From …showed first 75 words of 543 total…

…showed last 75 words of 543 total…audience eventually realizes that Liza was malested, and her irrational outburst in Ladners' home was then understood. This event scarred her for life, and resulted in the psychic death of her innocence. She had attempted to deal with it alone, which drove her to completely destroy Ladner and Bea's home. The rage had accumulated throughout her life, and her way to finally deal with it, was to in some way affect his life harshly aswell.