r's lack of explanation seems almost reasonable. Analysis of Poe's story can effectively begin with the narrator's extreme fondness for animals, which shows an unreasonable desire to give himself pleasure, and even draws ridicule from his playmates. He lives in a self-serving and self-deluded world that causes him to become antisocial and substitutes his affection towards animals for "the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man." The introduction of his wife provides little change to his attitudes and, for a short time, they seem to have a family in which all emotions but love are exempt. Thi
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