Response to option 4 Murders in the Rue Morgue by Val hulse

       I believe the center of this story is knowledge. The narrator/main character places a huge importance  on the possession of knowledge throughout the story.  In the beginning the narrator uses a chess game to emphasize the importance knowledge has in overtaking an chess opponent.  The narrator emphasizes that knowledge is separate from wealth and both do not have to coexist in order for a person to be knowledgeable.  This is the case with Dupin.  He poor but the only person more knowledgable than himself.  The major "man crush" the narrator developed on Dupin is because he envies his knowledge. In my opinion, the main chapter is willing to live and fully support Dupin in order to gain more knowledge.  He does this by literally locking himself inside with Dupin and soaking up everything Dupin says.
       The quest for more knowledge is evident when the two roommates investigate a murder. At this point in the story, the de-centering of knowledge is easy.  Is the quest for knowledge really worth viewing a horrific crime scene?  is knowledge really worth living with a stranger and isolating yourself from the world?  I believe on some level the narrator  realizes that he is perhaps a little crazy for doing this, because of what he says after Dupin refers to investigating the murder as amusement.  "An inquiry will afford us amusement," [I thought this an odd term, so applied, but said nothing]".  The narrator is however, still willing to risk everything that he thinks is right in order to gain more knowledge.
        Dupin does solve the case but at what costs? The narrator has viewed a crime scene been forced to hold a pistol and has not solved anything with his own knowledge. Is the main character really better off for perusing knowledge? There is the saying "knowledge is power" but in this case I don't see how solving this murder with Dupin gave the narrator any power.  The quest for the knowledge of this murder wasn't really knowledge at all but more of a game that occupied the two men.  I can not see what knowledge was personally gained by the narrator by solving this crime.