The Premature Burial In the Premature Burial our narrator is first of all sharing some stories, which he has hear and does not include himself. How the narrator knows these stories and if they are true is not clear. It seems pointless for the narrator to lie to us. He seems to have included these stories to console himself by saying it can happen to anyone. His own experiences happened over a decade ago, it shows that you can escape and overcome things, which are seemingly impossible. There is a use of flashback because it allows the narrator to deceit us into seeing the information and experiences in a certain way, which he later changes and surprises us with. (Wang, GradeSaver) The narrator is very clearly terrified and it affects everything in his life. He firstly distances himself from the topic by brining in information about others who actually have been buried alive. The narrator wants people to understand the horror in being prematurely buried, which thereby sentenced them to death. There is a strong character development after the narrator hears the voices of the 4 crew members on the boat, he realises that he is fine and this allows him to get past his fear and obsession. (Hedlund) …show more content…
The language hints that he comes from a rich family. Something uncommon for Poe is included, which is a slight humoristic tone. There is a use of Situational Irony. This is evident when he tries to make us believe that he has been buried alive, which he has not. When he is lying in the darkness and the 4 crew members starts talking, he realises that he is fine. The first man says “Hillo! Hillo. There!” said a gruff voice” (Poe, The premature Burial) The 4 men has an informal language and this moment really kills the suspense and the horror of the story. The tone then changes to amused and shocked by this revelation. This confuses the audience, but also brings some