Summit Collection’s Edgar Allan Poe figurine might frighten the onlooker in a poorly lit room. The figurine features Edgar Allan Poe as a skeleton, accompanied by a raven on his shoulder and a black cat by his feet. The figurine appears mostly black with hints of color found in the cat's red-eye, the white of Poe's feather quill and book pages, the green of Poe's book cover, the red bowtie positioned just beneath Poe's neck, and the pale gray of the skeleton itself. The figurine stands atop a small, light blue platform. All these features, when combined, give this Poe figurine a haunted look; the darkness in this statue mirrors the darkness in many of Poe's stories. If the skeleton itself were not enough for the onlooker to link this figurine to the dead, the color scheme and animals chosen to accompany Poe certainly are.
The black cat sits beside Poe’s left leg, with his left eye glowing red and his tail wrapped around his legs, delicately ending at his front paws. The animal’s eerie red eye appears to stare at the onlooker no matter their placement in the room, causing an unsettling effect. This peculiar cat means to represent Pluto from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat. According to the story, an unidentified narrator progresses in his addiction to alcohol, causing him to lose his sanity and become quite violent. He eventually plucks Pluto’s eye from his socket in a drunken stupor before finally slipping a noose around the animal’s neck and hanging him from a tree. Though the story itself indicates alcohol, and possibly drug addiction, as a cause for the narrator's growing insanity, the narrator believes himself merely a victim of human nature. He claims, “I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart -- one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man” (Poe, The Black Cat). With this statement, the narrator declares his belief that the nature of mankind compels us to act unreasonably and denying this denies ones’ nature. He continues, "Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such?” (Poe, The Black Cat). Here the narrator elaborates, claiming that mankind longs to defy the law simply because it exists. As humans, we supposedly feel the need to rebel against the norm because we are able. He finishes with, “This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself -- to offer violence to its own nature -- to do wrong for the wrong's sake only -- that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute” (Poe, The Black Cat). In these final sentences, the narrator blames his mortal injuries upon Pluto on his natural desire to challenge the expected. This passage needs analyzing to show the extent of the narrator’s demented mind. Instead of feeling regret or remorse for his cruel deeds, he feels justified in them and believes them necessary. Though Pluto’s eye socket never glowed red in The Black Cat, the ghostly red light replacing the cat’s eye on the figurine suggests how sinister the story truly is.
The second animal, the raven, sits on Poe’s right shoulder with its beak slightly tilted up. It tucks its wings behind itself in such a way that positions its chest upward, giving the mysterious bird a regal aura. The raven appears entirely black with its ceramic feathers laying smoothly in line. The lack of definition in this raven’s eyes makes him appear to “have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming” (Poe 105), giving the impression of mischief and evil. As the raven taunts the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, this raven taunts the Poe figurine and onlooker alike, as though it should remain there forever; “the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting” (Poe 103).
Poe himself dresses in mostly black, his bony hands clutching a green book in the right and an ashy feather quill in the left. His dark hair falls messily, framing his harsh face. He wears an unsettling smile made of severe cheekbone angles and a uniform line of small teeth. This smile matches the sadistic nature of many of Poe's stories, unforgiving and relentless. More unnerving than his smile is his eyes. The eyes of this small statue appear sunken in and almost completely black, save for the thin white lines that help create Poe’s pupils. These colorless eyes also follow the onlooker around the room, no matter where one looks they cannot escape his haunting gaze.
This elaborate Edgar Allan Poe skeletal figurine arrived packaged in a simple cardboard box, just large enough to hold the six-inch tall figurine. The understated packaging says nothing of the intricate statue it contains. The pale blue packaging displays a banner, featuring the company’s logo repeatedly, wrapped around the top and bottom of the box. The backside features only an electronic link and a Facebook logo. Besides this, the only other focal point of the box is the larger Summit Collection logo on the package’s front and a warning exclaiming "This is not a toy" in the lower-left corner. This warning proves interesting to consider, as the figurine poses no real risk to children. The figurine’s ceramic material ensures no sharp edges exist for a child to injure itself on, and it would not easily shatter either. The half-foot statue also poses no choking hazard as it could not possibly fit in anyone’s mouth. This warning does not promote the protection of children but instead marks the object as a novelty item. The label implies that this figurine needs a Poe enthusiast to purchase and appreciate it, and should not be portrayed as a meaningless children’s toy. As Summit Collections seemingly focuses on eerie, supernatural elements, the strangeness of their products makes them the perfect company to sell Edgar Allan Poe paraphernalia. Their collectibles vary from small plush toys to more elaborate ceramic figurines. Summit Collections features many items inspired by Mexican culture, such as Día De Los Muertos skeletons and sugar skulls. This also includes tens of mariachi band figurines. Though their main form of production includes various skeletal items, they also sell several random trinkets with tribal symbols on them. In addition to this, they manufacture small statues made to look like sarcophaguses. All of the items distributed by Summit Collections possess one thing in common, their unsettling appearances, which pairs nicely with Poe’s disturbing stories.
This item proves a terrific representation of the Edgar Allan Poe stereotype. It features Poe in a dark color scheme, with a frightening expression and the sense of terror, just as Poe is widely perceived today. The figurine speaks only to his dark qualities, overlooking anything else about his character. Furthermore, it specifically draws attention to two of Poe’s most famous works. I believe Summit Collection chose to represent The Black Cat and "The Raven" not simply because of their modern popularity, but because they demonstrate the common themes found in Poe's stories. "The Raven" includes mystery, supernatural forces and longing for a lost love while The Black Cat contains a man with murderous tendencies, driven by alcohol and possibly even drug addiction. The representation of these stories fits the theme of the figurine in its’ entirety, as well as the perception of Poe in popular culture. The dark and unsettling atmosphere that surrounds this six-inch figurine is every bit as pronounced as it is in Poe’s fiction, it will leave the onlooker both terrified and yearning for more.