The American writer, Edgar Allan Poe, was best known for his mysterious and macabre short stories and poems. Macabre is used to emphasize details and symbols of death (Biography). One of the stories that this relates to is “The Facts in The Case of M. Valdemar.” In this story, the narrator, known as “P”, is interested in mesmerism and what would occur while one is mesmerized on the cusp of death. P’s friend, M. Valdemar who is dying of tuberculosis, agrees to be the subject of this experiment. While in this state of mesmerism, Valdemar had barely any function, but still wasn’t at the point of death. Whenever questioned, all Valdemar had to say was that he is asleep and dying or dead. As the experiment goes on, vital functions, such as breathing and blood flow, are lost. P and the physicians agreed that taking Valdemar out of this state would result in complete death, so they kept him like this for several months. They eventually attempted to awaken him after the seven-month period. P asked Valdemar what his feelings and wishes are now and Valdemar, in a hideous voice said, “For God’s sake! –quick! –quick! –put me to sleep –or, quick! –waken me! –quick! –I say to you that I am dead (Poe 73)! P panicked and awakened him, and when he did, Valdemar rotted away into a liquid mass in less than a minute (Poe). Throughout this story, Poe uses certain words to engage readers and to get his overall point across. Word choice is important because it sets the tone and imagery of the story. Not only does he use the word dead a lot, but he also uses different words that have the same meaning. 

First, Poe uses the word dissolution when talking about Valdemar’s approaching death. As dissolution is another form of the word “dead”, Poe is reiterating this simple meaning in a more complex and different way to keep the theme apparent. The exact definition of dissolution is “death; deceased; dissolving into parts (Dictionary).” When you think about something dissolving into parts, you think about it losing its specific and vital functions. These functions are necessary for life. When Poe uses this word to describe Valdemar’s approaching state, he is referring to Valdemar losing the qualities that keep him alive. This could be a foreshadowing to what happens to him while in the mesmerized state. He loses every function except the ability to move his tongue.  You can see how with the choice of the word dissolution, Poe starts to set the dark tone for what is to come. Using this word instead of a simple word for death gives the reader a little something more to imagine. We now see how Valdemar is dying, into parts. This is where imagery and word choice seem to correlate. 

Next, we find that he uses the word expiration, which is defined as “termination; coming to an end (Dictionary).” In context, the author uses the word “expiration” when the condition of the unaltered state of Valdemar for a quarter of an hour had ended. Although this word is being used to talk about a time period, it can still be referred back to the patient, Valdemar. Poe is employing the element to further his argument because, although he is talking about a specific time period, he could be referring to life itself having an expiration date. When we think about something expiring, we think about it ending and becoming useless. As the reader, you imagine food going bad or old software that is no longer adequate. Poe is incorporating words that relate to death throughout the story to maintain the tone and keep the reader connected to the unraveling of Valdetmar’s state of being.

Finally, the word putridity was used at the end of the story when describing Valdemar’s dead body after being woken up. Putridity is defined as “rotten; in a dead state (Dictionary).”At this point, the author’s use of this word was to emphasize the finality of Valdemar’s death. As the reader, we now know that Valdemar is completely dead. Throughout the story he claimed that he was dead or dying, and this was believable because he didn’t have any functions left. However, we don’t have any sense of closure because Valdemar was still talking. Poe uses this word to give us more of a visual of what is really happening in that moment and not just giving us the simple word: dead. If, however, he did use the word dead, the reader wouldn’t understand how gruesome his state of death really was. In fact, we would think nothing of it. 

This short story is a great example of how word choice plays a critical role in setting the tone and painting mental imagery. Instead of using vague or generic words, Poe chose to use more complex and descriptive words to guide us through his story. While he uses different words for death, they’re all used similarly to set the morbid tone and paint a more detailed picture in the readers head. Sustaining and repeating references to death makes the story darker as it moves along. Each word seems to be a step closer to Valdemar’s death. The first word lets us know that Valdemar is going to die, the next lets us know that he is dead, and the final word lets us know his horrendous state of death. The placement of these words gives the reader a timeline feel and like the decay of Valdemar, the story itself almost seems to decay. Poe purposefully placed his words throughout the story in order to prevent the reader from imagining anything besides the demise of Valdemar, demonstrating why and how word choice is so important in writing.
