Question

Which theme is conveyed in this excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe? TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story. It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
The insane have no sense of time.
The insane are obsessed with mortality.
The insane are incapable of using deception.
The insane lack imagination.
The insane live in a reality of their own.

Answer 1

The correct answer is - The insane live in a reality of their own.

The narrator's reality isn't the same as the old man's reality - this is because the narrator is insane. However, he wasn't always insane - what drew him to madness is the old man's 'eye of a vulture.' He became fascinated with the eye, started hating it so much that he wanted to kill the old man, which he did. After that, his madness didn't go away - it just grew stronger until he admitted his crime.

Answer 2

This is one of my favorite pieces! "The insane have no sense of time." - That choice is not particularly true in this case because it does not mention time that much. So, we can eliminate this choice. "The insane are obsessed with mortality." - This isn't true either. He never said that he liked killing the old man. He even says "I loved the old man." "The insane are incapable of using deception." He did not deceive anyone. "The insane lack imagination." He does not lack imagination. So, I think that it is the last choice that makes the most sense to me.