The eye was not the only factor to make the young man go insane.
Not only did the eye drive the young man insane, it had help from a familiar sound. "I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage" (pg 37). The young man believes that he can hear the heart of the old man; he has gone so crazy that he has taken what is probably the sound of his own racing pulse and some how conceived it to be the old man's. If the young man believes that he can hear the heart beat and believe he to be sane, might someone else hear it? "But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me-the sound would be heard by a neighbor" (pg 38). One must be completely foregone to believe that a person in another house is going to hear the beating of this old man's heart. After the young man did indeed kill the old man he made sure the heart was not alive by " placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation" (pg 38). The young man has truly gone to the dark side of the moon if he believes the heart lives on. Once again, if the author had tried to narrate from the old man's view it would kill some of the insanity because once the young man kills the old man the story would have to be over, or if the old man's heart lived on, then the theme would be not insanity, for the heart is really alive. The theme would be mysterious because there is an unknown factor as to why the heart would torment the young man. The heart does not just drive the young man crazy, but it drives him to his own downfall.
The police come over to investigate a scream, they find nothing, but everything seems to find them. The young man thinks that all is well; too bad his insanity will drive him through paranoia hell. "Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!-no, no! They heard!-they suspected!-they knew!-they were making a mockery of my horror" (pg 39).