In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a narrator lives under the watchful gaze of the eye of an old man with whom he lives. This eye haunts the narrator and he murders the old man. Officers are dispatched to the scene after a scream coming from the property is reported. After temporarily convincing them that no crime was committed, the narrator breaks down and confesses.

Paranoia always seems to be the downfall of those with a guilty conscience. Recently, in an out-of-character fit of anger, I punched a hole in the basement door of my apartment complex which leads to the building parking lot. The old building in which I live has no security cameras, no guards.

Even though no one could know it was I who left the crater, the scene replays in my head every day as I leave my apartment and head for my vehicle. Just glancing at it fills me with an overwhelming sense of guilt. I fear punishment. I am paranoid as to who knows my secret. But isn’t this paranoia deserved? Isn’t it a side effect of my actions? If I had not damaged the door, I would not feel the burden of paranoia.

Therefore, can paranoia exist if we have nothing to feel guilty about in the first place? In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe uses symbolism by way of the old man’s eye, pale color, the bed and bedroom, and the number three to spotlight the theme of guilty paranoia. He uses these symbols to suggest we cannot experience paranoia unless we have something to hide.