Short Fiction · Chapter
The Apple-Tree Table explained
The narrator discovers an old, cloven-footed table in his haunted garret and brings it into his home, despite his daughters' superstitious fears.
What happens
The narrator discovers an old, cloven-footed table in his haunted garret and brings it into his home, despite his daughters' superstitious fears. After reading Cotton Mather's accounts of witchcraft late one night, he hears a mysterious ticking from the table, which his wife dismisses as a bug. The family debates whether the table is haunted, and the narrator attempts to capture the source of the sound.
Themes in this chapter
Appearance vs. Reality
The table appears haunted and satanic, but the narrator's wife insists the ticking is merely a bug, contrasting superstitious appearance with natural reality.
Innocence vs. Evil
The daughters' innocent fears of the table's cloven feet and the narrator's initial skepticism highlight the tension between innocence and perceived evil.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator (The Apple-Tree Table)
The narrator discovers the table in the garret, brings it home, and becomes fascinated by its mysterious ticking.
- The Narrator (The Apple-Tree Table)
The narrator's wife, who initially supports the table and later proposes practical solutions like roach powder and cutting into the wood.
Key passages
“When I first saw the table, dingy and dusty, in the furthest corner of the old hopper-shaped garret, and set out with broken, be-crusted old purple vials and flasks, and a ghostly, dismantled old quarto, it seemed just such a necromantic little old table as might have belonged to Friar Bacon.”
Upon first seeing the dusty, neglected table in the corner of the garret, surrounded by old bottles and a tattered book, the narrator thought it looked like a magical table from a sorcerer's workshop.
The narrator describes the table's initial appearance and its association with the occult.
“I found myself starting at the least chance sound, and yet wishing that it were not so very still.”
The narrator became jumpy at every small noise, even as he wished the silence would break.
The narrator's growing nervousness while reading Cotton Mather's witchcraft stories.
“We will rub this table all over with that celebrated 'roach powder' I've heard of.”
The narrator's wife suggests using roach powder to eliminate the source of the ticking.
The wife's practical, non-superstitious response to the mysterious ticking.