Death is an inevitable aspect of life. Whether one's life is spent in constant fear and worry of the preordained or driven by the concept of living one's life to the fullest, death still remains as the unavoidable future. Literature is able to capture the essence of mortality through personal accounts and experiences. In both short stories "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" and "Videotape" written by Edgar Allan Poe and Don DeLillo death is the central focus of the work. Each story depicts a death, but the perceptions of the death vastly differ. The concept of inescapable fatality drives each plot of the short stories, however, the differences in realism and sensitization provide two separate interpretations of death.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" in 1845 dedicated to the recent fascination with hypnotism in the early 1800's. Poe writes in first person narration with the speaker being only named "P". The narrator describes the story of a man who is near death and wishes to participate in mesmerism (full hypnotic control) right before he reaches the point of passing away.  In Don DeLillo's, "Videotape", DeLillo puts the reader behind a camera, in the hands of a young girl who while innocently filming the traffic in the rearview window she captures the murder of the man in the car behind. Both stories revolve around the idea that death is inevitable. In Poe's story the narrator places the man under a powerful hypnotism that allows for his mind to remain living while his body is in a dying state, but ultimately deteriorates once "P" removes the hypnosis because death cannot be avoided. DeLillo approaches death more realistically by showing the reader that death can happen anywhere at any point in time.  Along with being similar in themes both stories present themselves in the same structure. The stories are told by only witness accounts not directly by the deceased. This method of writing allows for each author to give a perception of death rather than a factual representation. Poe and DeLillo stories only give the reader a description of the events with a single point of view leaving the reader to decide whether the accounts are accurately portrayed. Although both stories possess similar qualities they differ on how they perceive death.

Throughout "Videotape" DeLillo denotes through textual techniques the growing desensitization of death. The opening sentence of the story begins with the pronoun "It", immediately from this language the reader gets the sense of commonality and informality. DeLillo continues with this pattern of using simple pronouns such as, you, I , and they forming a conversational feeling to the story. The irony of using informal diction is that the story discusses the gruesome murder of a man, witnessed by a young girl, yet DeLillo talks of the event as if it's an everyday occurrence. To add more normalcy to the story DeLillo brings in the readers personal relationships when describing how one reacts to seeing the video of the man's murder,  "You don't usually call your wife over to the TV set. She has her programs, you have yours. But there's a certain urgency here. You want her to see how it looks. The tape has been running forever and now the thing is finally going to happen and you want her to be here when he's shot". By inserting family into the narrative the reader is able to better relate to the piece, however, upon doing so the author is also revealing the human's unconscious tendency to spread explicit footage. DeLillo's overall purpose of writing, "Videotape" is to show how desensitized the population is becoming to death and how death is no longer a touchy a subject, but rather a form of entertainment.  On the other hand, Poe's perception of death does not include the insensitivity or commonality that DeLillo's story exemplifies.

Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his ability to write abnormal short stories that contain disturbing plots. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is just one of his many gothic writings that drew controversy. The story allows for the reader to feel as if they are in the room when the man, M. Ernest Valdemar, is being placed under hypnotism. Poe begins his story by alluding to the fact that some people believe his account of Valdemar is false. In response to this, Poe constantly adds medical jargon to add credibility to his story using words such as, in articulo mortis, phthisis, and stertorious breathing. The use of these terms forms the idea of death and the dying process as complex and only understandable by those of higher education, which in comparison to DeLillo's story that views death as a simple act. Once Valdemar is under hypnosis Poe's descriptions of his body's appearance become very detailed and vivid, "... he lay in the same position; the pulse was imperceptible; the breathing was gentle (scarcely noticeable, unless through the application of a mirror to the lips;) the eyes were closed naturally; and the limbs were as rigid and as cold as marble." The increase of detail as Valdemar gets closer and closer to approaching death represents the importance Poe feels that death serves in one's life. Death is a strong force and can change a person physically and emotionally. When "P" views Valdemar's dying body he can't help but examine every small detail of what death looks like on a person. By placing Valdemar is a frozen state "P" is able to watch death take its course in a physical form. In contrast to DeLillo's story where death is only viewed in a one-dimensional way and the viewer is unable to personally be impacted by the way death looks, smells, or feels.

Although both stories perceive death in completely different forms they still are connected by the theme of death being an inevitable factor of life. No matter what way a person views death, whether it be an outsider watching or a personal encounter, there is no way to avoid it. The only way to control death is to change the way one handles it.
