James Kirkland in his writing on Edgar Allan Poe’s work addresses why the old man’s “vulture eye” may have caused the narrator so much distress. In his writing he mentions about Edward Gifford who is “a contemporary expert of the Evil Eye”. Gifford has found in his research that in much folk writing …show more content…
Within the story the old man dies of suffocation. The article expresses that unlike strangulation, suffocation does not involve the narrator to have to see the old man’s face while the actual killing is in progress. The article shows this lack of confrontation during the killing is to “protect the narcissistic ego”. The killer only sees the bed on the victim (Wing-chi Ki). This is shown when the narrator say’s “ In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him” (Poe). Only once did the narrator refer to himself as doing the act. Through this he detaches himself in a way from the actual scene. After this he only refers to the old man and the sound of his beating heart. There for according to the article the narrator can view the killing as not himself but the bed. Because the narrator did not directly cause the old man suffering because the bed was the direct cause (Wing-chi