Poe's Short Stories Lesson Plan

The narrator of “The Balloon Hoax” says, “so resolute is the world to despise anything which carries with it an air of simplicity.” What does this mean? What do you make of this statement?

The narrator is arguing that often people are quick to be suspicious or cynical of anything that happens simply. One example of this is how sometimes if something doesn’t seem complicated or have a complicated example, people are less likely to trust it, or that the more complicated it is, the more valuable or true it is. Students may argue that they think this is true and point to examples of it. Other students may disagree and say that in their experience, people prefer simplicity.