The Howling Man Analysis

The argument presented in The Twilight Zone's “ The Howling Man,” episode is particularly interesting because of its content. In the episode, the audience is presented with David Ellington's entrance into an oddly strange castle. The scenery, being the strange castle, will be representative of Ellington's feelings since it develops a sense of mystery that is key to the story. Ellington engages in a conversation with Brother Jerome, who is a bearded man with a staff, similar to the representations of Bible figures. Brother Jerome's abnormality is significant in the story since it will pave uncertainty in his argument. Jerome’s unusual conduct hinders his ability to persuade. Brother Jerome's abnormality increases as he explains to Ellington …show more content…
Jerome’s odd story sparks ironically sparks an interest in Ellington which leads to engage in a conversation with the mysterious man. This mysterious man alleges he has been captured by some sort of cult which Brother Jerome is a part of. To Ellington, this explanation penetrates his head and starts shaping his reality. The odd way they dress, their location in such castle, and the fact that Jerome claimed his staff was magical and the sole reason the devil could not escape leads Ellington to find this argument more convincing. The devil uses his words carefully to persuade Ellington he states “ You're not one of them... They're mad.” The devil does this to establish that these men are different right off the bat. Although Ellington is not aware if different is utilized in a negative context or a positive context, he is aware something is unusual. The devil in a very keen move manipulates Ellington's curiosity to favor himself. It seems the Devil has experience in appealing to human sympathy as he expertly persuades Ellington. After establishing that Brother Jerome is abnormal and different, the devil plants sympathy into Ellington by victimizing himself. He poses as a weak man who has been incarcerated falsely a cult in order in an attempt to back up the fact that these men seem weird. Again, the devil establishes lies to comfort Ellington's …show more content…
Although he states that after the devil's capture the world has been relatively peaceful, this concept is hard for Ellington to accept since he still is aware of violence, death, corruption, and sin throughout the world. To Ellington, the link between the devil's apprehension and peace seems flawed since these atrocities continue occurring. It is important to consider the time frame of this conversation since it comes after World War 1, one of the bloodiest wars in human history, where humans have experienced war's true devastation. Ellington, aware of the continuing violence, improperly concludes that there is no correlation between devil’s incarceration and peace. Thus, to Ellington, the man trapped in the jail is the product of extremist cults trying to regulate the behavior of a normal man. As a result, this leads Ellington to side with the devil since Jerome's explanation fail to provide sufficient reason to detain the