PATHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Since the narrator is only vexed with the old man’s eye, he doesn’t kill the old man because during the first seven nights, the eye was closed. Since the eye is closed, he had no problem with the old man, nor a reason to kill him.

Detailed explanation-2: -His over-sensitivity becomes in this story the ultimate cause of his obsession with the old man’s eye, which in turn causes him to murder the old man. Ironically, the narrator offers as proof of his sanity the calmness with which he can narrate the story.

Detailed explanation-3: -One night, though, the old man awakens as the narrator watches, revealing the eye. The narrator strikes, smothering the old man with his own mattress. The narrator chops up the body, and hides the pieces under the floorboards. The narrator then cleans the place up to hide all signs of the crime.