PART A: In the story, what causes the conflict between the narrator and the old man?
A. The narrator and the old man resent having to live together because of the narrator’s disease, and so the narrator decides to murder the old man.
B. The narrator is driven mad by the sound of a heart beating beneath the floorboards, and this causes him to kill the old man.
C. The narrator watches the old man sleep, and when the terrified old man discovers this, the narrator kills him to keep his madness hidden.
D. The narrator is terrified of the old man’s blue eye and overwhelmed by the sound of his heartbeat, so the narrator kills the old man.
PART A: In the story, what causes the conflict between the narrator and the old man?
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The correct answer is D. The narrator is terrified of the old man’s blue eye and overwhelmed by the sound of his heartbeat, so the narrator kills the old man.
Explanation: In the story, the narrator is deeply disturbed by the old man’s “vulture-like” eye, which drives him to madness. The heartbeat symbolizes his growing guilt and paranoia, contributing to his decision to murder the old man. The combination of his obsession with the eye and the overwhelming sound of the heartbeat ultimately leads to the conflict and the narrator’s violent act.