Not only is the use of contractions inappropriate for a formal letter like this, it is also too casual to be used as a form of application for asking any favor. Also, the letter contains a lot of slang words like 'dough' and 'peeps', which can be replaced by proper words. This form of letter sounds too casual to be used for such a form of asking favors. So, it s false as not only the use of contractions make it inappropriate, the use of slang words also made it more appropriate for any official use.
He was not surprised because he was already going insane. Since he was hallucinating that the raven was spouting words at him. He was already ill to begin with so it was not a surprise he thought the raven spoke.
