Question

2. Poe talks about time throughout the story.

Answer 1

Here's one part where the time's going slow:

I asked the policemen to come in. The cry, I said, was my own, in

a dream. - all the way up to - But why does his heart not stop beating?! Why does it not stop!?”

Here's another slow part:

"The old man was lying there not dreaming that I was at his door.

Suddenly he moved in his bed.  - all the way up to - Yes. He was dead! Dead as a stone. His eye would

trouble me no more!"

Here's a fast portion:

So I am mad, you say? You should have seen how careful I was to put the body where no one could find it. First I cut off the head, then the arms and the legs. I was careful not to let a single drop of blood fall on the floor. I pulled up three of the boards that formed the floor, and put the pieces of the body there. Then I put the boards down again, carefully, so carefully that no human eye could see that they had been moved.

As I finished this work I heard that someone was at the door. It was now four o’clock in the morning, but still dark.

Here's another fast portion:

So you think that I am mad? A madman cannot plan. But you

should have seen me. During all of that week I was as friendly to the

old man as I could be, and warm, and loving.

Every night about twelve o’clock I slowly opened his door. And

when the door was opened wide enough I put my hand in, and then

my head. In my hand I held a light covered over with a cloth so that

no light showed. And I stood there quietly. Then, carefully, I lifted the

cloth, just a little, so that a single, thin, small light fell across that eye.

For seven nights I did this, seven long nights, every night at midnight.

Always the eye was closed, so it was impossible for me to do the work.

For it was not the old man I felt I had to kill; it was the eye, his Evil

Eye.

And every morning I went to his room, and with a warm, friendly

voice I asked him how he had slept. He could not guess that every

night, just at twelve, I looked in at him as he slept.

Why does Poe mention time so much in the story? Why does he change the pace from slow to fast?

Cause, it's a very short story. However, in this story is a very big concept of murder. Some parts go by rapidly, where no action is happening really. However, near the important parts, like the actual murder and confession, every detail is included.