Literature is open to interpretation for anyone and has many different meanings. As long as one can back up that meaning from the text, one can say almost anything. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is about the narrator "Dr. P" who his retelling his experience with a man who is hours away from death. He wanted to test sleep hypnosis on someone who was very close to passing. The narrator explains all the mysterious details that went on until the doctor woke up Valdemar and he deteriorated instantly. The main message that I gathered in this story is that death is inevitable and all attempts to prevent it are futile. This is because of the author's use of imagery, symbolism, and characterization of people and events.

The author incorporates imagery to allow the reader to really understand what is going on. When reading the story, certain uses of his imagery really pointed out his meaning. Using phrases such as, "the glassy roll of an eye" and "I made the lips quiver, as in incipient sleep"(Poe 25), emphasized Dr. P had all the power in Valdemar's final moments. This described how he knew Valdemar was under hypnosis and was ready for further testing to see whether he would die or postpone his death. It also showed me how he really believed this would work. Another use of imagery was when he described, "the skin assumed a cadaverous hue" and "the upper lip, at the same time, writhed itself away from the teeth"(Poe 27). This is describing Valdemar's body after a day had passed. His body started having a mass transformation and tightened up. This is when he died while under the hypnosis, although the doctor tried his best to save him.  As Dr. P described the patient's body when trying to wake him he said, "Shrunk-crumbled-absolutely rotted away beneath my hands"(Poe 29). After all that had happened, nothing changed with his death and the aftermath was still the same, if not worse. He died but he dissolved into a soup, which is worse from a viewer's perspective. Much of the imagery used was very dark and suspenseful because that was how the story was from the hypnosis to the body descriptions. This relates to death especially because the last moments in a person's life are usually drawn out and unhappy sagas. While imagery helped to explain the meaning, symbolism was another important element used by the author.

The symbolism in this short story was another important element that led to my claim. For example, the author refers to Valdemar's tongue many times after he was declared dead but, still under hypnosis. The narrator said, "a strong vibratory motion was observable in the tongue" and "the tongue quivered, or rather rolled violently in the mouth (although the jaws and lips remained rigid as before)"(Poe 29). I believe that the tongue symbolizes how even though Valdemar is dead his soul is not at rest because of the trance his body is in. The tongue is the only body part that can move even though everything else is dead. It shows how the hypnosis is hurting the soul because he says at the end "quick put me to sleep" or "quick waken me"(Poe 29). Also, the tongue is in the mouth, which produces sounds from within. Another symbol was Valdemar the character because he represents all those who try and resist death no matter the cost. When Dr. P proposed the hypnosis idea while close to death, Valdemar was described as being, "vividly excited" but in the past "he had never before given tokens of sympathy with what I did"(Poe 23). This shows how because the patient was close to death he changed and would do anything to prolong his life. His struggle with trying to stay alive is similar to many people today who feel as if they have not accomplished everything in life. In the end though no matter what one tries it is to no avail. Death will always come to even the best and people must learn to accept this. These symbols were very important to my claim but so are characterization of people and events.

The author's use of characterization of people and events is used to represent the doctors. Each doctor is only acknowledged by a letter and never a full name. This recurring action represents the mystery covering this experiment. Another characterization is that the doctors were more supreme over the others. The narrator said, "I did not feel myself at liberty" and "with no more reliable witnesses than these people"(Poe 24). This shows how he believed only the doctors were able workers and did not respect the others. It gives off a feeling that the doctors had all the power, such as Dr. P controlling the patient. Because of that, they kept the experiment going for an extended period of time and the results proved nothing. This relates to death and the foolishness of trying to prevent it because instead of letting him die peacefully they upset him from their ego. Due to that, the body was then completely disfigured.

In conclusion, death can never be prevented. Messing with a natural fact of life can affect the balance and have unexpected consequences such as the dissolving body. Eventually all efforts to try and prevent it will become pointless. The imagery, symbolism, and characterization of people and events showed that to be true throughout the story. This was because of the author's description of the character's body, the symbol of the tongue and Valdemar, and the characterization of the doctors.

