The narrator begins and ends by referencing a German phrase meaning "it does not permit itself to be read." And so he gives up after following the old man around the city all night.
So what is Poe/the narrator saying about the old man? Is he a hero? A villain? Is mankind at its greatest when wandering thus?
Thoughts?
Go to Google and copy in the following search:
site:www.online-literature.com "man of the crowd"
Some say that the narrator was hallucinating or that Poe was playing a joke on the reader.
If there was any value judgement implied towards the "man" of the crowd it was negative.
Since the man didn't notice the narrator, it is almost as if the narrator was a ghost. But the man was also like a ghost, since he didn't have any real existence.
I don't think there are any heroes in the story, since no one really did anything.
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