Every single time I go to a library, I usually come across a book that I have already read. I have read many books, thus I know a lot of different way of writing. Nonetheless, few authors have been able to catch my attention and my interest. One of those authors is the well-know American writer Edgar Allan Poe. I really love his stories since he has a very particular way of writing which makes you feel inside the scene. Although I love reading Poe’s stories, there is another author that also catches my attention. Agatha Christie’s stories are very captivating and entertaining. Both way of writing have a few similarities and differences. We are going to focus on two short stories; The Gold Bug which was written by Edgar Allan Poe and was published in 1843 and The Million Dollar Bond Robbery written by Agatha Christie and published in 1924.
A very important aspect to mention is the writer’s background and their way of writing. Both authors lived in a different world of ours. Poe lived in the XIX century, whereas Christie lived mostly in the early XX century. Agatha Christie is known for her novels and short stories of detectives. Her most famous character is the detective Hercules Poirot who appears in many of her stories and also in The Million Dollar Bond Robbery. In contrast, Edgar Allan Poe is known because of his horror and fantasy stories even though he also wrote some detective stories. We can mention another difference which is the vocabulary they use. Poe’s vocabulary is very simple and easy to understand. If a child or a teenager who is learning English reads Poe’s short stories, he or she will be able to understand the argument with no problems. Nevertheless, if the same child or teenager reads a short story written by Agatha Christie, he or she will need to use a dictionary twice or three times per page. The British writer uses a very specific language which is confusing sometimes. Furthermore, in the Christie’s story we are focused on, she uses a lot of French expressions which make the story a little hard to understand. A similarity both authors have in their way of writing is that the characters seem to be real. Every single character makes you feel inside the story; they make you feel as an observer that is witnessing everything, and then you can tell what you saw or lived to others. Another important aspect that we can compare of these both stories is the perspective of the narrator. In Christie’s story, the narrator is not part of the story; it does not perform as a character. It is only a witness who relates what it sees. In comparison the narrator in Poe’s short story is an unnamed character that has a very important participation in the argument. The narrator relates what he saw and lived but he cannot express the feeling of the other characters.
Both main characters, Poe’s Legrand and Christie’s Poirot, have some similarities and differences. Hercules Poirot is a very clever man what is demonstrated along the short stories he appears. He has the incredible ability to find the criminals out with few problems. His insight is very special since Poirot only need a few clues to solve every puzzle. Likewise, Legrand’s insight is very special. He discovered the secret treasure of Captain Kidd and the only clue he found was the piece of parchment. He was also a clever man as it is expressed in the first paragraph of the short story. Furthermore, both men were not alone when they made their discoveries. There was always a friend who was with the main character; Captain Hastings was with Poirot when he solved the mystery of the bond robbery, and the unnamed narrator and Jupiter were with Legrand when he found the treasure. Although they may be very similar in some aspects, they have also some differences. The first difference we can present is the psychological feature of both characters. On one hand we have that Legrand was a clever man, as it was established before, he had been rich before, but when he lost his fortune he became strange. We can assume that Legrand was bipolar, which means that he had depressive episodes and then he was very happy and talkative. The narrator thought that this mental illness was caused by the lost of his fortune. When we have advanced in the story, we will realize that Legrand is getting worst in his illness. Jupiter told the narrator that it is because of the bug bite but his master, but Legrand said that he is just excited and not ill. On the other hand we have the personality of the detective Hercules Poirot. In contrast with Legrand, Poirot was a very calm man, he was also very formal and polite with the people he met. Poirot never showed any sign of any mental illness, on the contrary, he seemed always very healthy. A second difference we can present is that the both characters lived in different environments. Legrand lived on a small island which was located fourteen kilometres from Charleston, in the USA. He lived in a hut because of his poorness, but he had a servant with him, the previously mentioned Jupiter. In comparison Poirot lived in London, but we do not know whether he lived in a house or in a flat. Even thought their physical environments are very different, their psychological environments may be very similar. Legrand and Poirot lived in an atmosphere of a kind of adventure. The first character was always in contact with the nature; that was always a kind of adventure. Whereas Poirot was always investigating about different crimes, he lived in excitement and it was also a kind of adventure.
In my opinion The Gold Bug is better than The Million Dollar Bond Robbery due to the fact that the stories written by Edgar Allan Poe are very captivating and I would dare to say that they are more captivating that the stories written by Agatha Christie. The Million Dollar Bond Robbery is very interesting and entertaining but it does not have the ability to attract the reader in their first lines as Poe’s story does. The topic of this story is good but not amazing. Poirot adventures have been in my life since I was a child, but the way of writing of Agatha Christie does not make me feel exciting of continue reading. In contrast, I really enjoyed reading The Gold Bug. Every time that a saw a period I was jumping to continue reading the next paragraph. The literature written by Edgar Allan Poe pointed to an audience of any age. A little child, a teenager or an adult can be perfectly captivated by this kind of stories. In almost every high school in our country, the students are commanded to read a few tales from this author, such as The Black Cat and The fall of the house of Usher. They usually get attracted by his topics and his way of writing and what everybody says is that they feel inside the story. The Gold Bug presents us a topic that has always been in our hearth: the discovery of a treasure. We can partially feel identified with Legrand due to the fact that we have always feel excited when we are about to discover something wonderful. There are many aspects in Legrand and in the narrator that can make somebody indentify with them. The narrator was someone understanding and willing to help his friend. But apart from all this, the part that most make us dream is when the chest is opened and the shiny treasure is taken out. Everybody would like to be one of those characters that became millionaire with the help of a little gold bug.
Summarizing, we have just compare two short stories from two of the most important authors that the literature has had in many years. Agatha Christie, a British author who lived in the early XX century who gave us in legacy her stories of detective, mystery and clues. Her most known character is the inspector Hercules Poirot who appears in many stories of this author. The Million Dollar Bond Robbery is a story in which the amazing insight of Poirot is shown. He is accompanied by his friend Captain Hasting along the whole story. On the other hand we have the American writer Edgar Allan Poe who is famous for his fantasy and mystery tales that where written in the XIX century. The Gold Bug is a story that makes us dream about finding a treasure. The main character, Legrand, is a man that used to be rich but lost his fortune. He has some similarities and differences with the main character in the Million Dollar Bond Robbery. The similarity that is most noticeable is that both characters had a very particular insight that helps them in the story. I prefer the Poe’s story but it does not mean that I did not like reading Christie’s story. Both stories are wonderful and both should be read for everyone.
