“Oh, why was it so hard to know what to do? Because I’m young, Edmund answered himself. Grownups know what’s right. Then he thought, If only I were older and a real man!” 

At only 11 years old, Edmund feels overwhelmed with the responsibility of being the “sole man” of the family who is therefore responsible for his sister’s well-being. Aunty Pru instilled in him a sense of obedience and trust in adults, which is why he feels so torn over leaving Sis to fetch food. Over the course of the novel, Edmund learns that adults do not always know or do what is right.

“The old city lay dark and cold. A raw wind whipped the street lamps and made the gas flames hiss and flicker like snake tongues. Fingers of shadow leaped over sidewalks, clawing silently upon closely set wooden houses. Stray leave, brittle and brown, rattles like dry bones along cold stone gutters.” 

With vivid imagery, Avi creates Providence as a dismal, uninviting setting for this story. Aunty Pru frequently told the children that the city was dangerous, and throughout the novel it is characterized as an unforgiving and terrifying place, as the dark imagery of death is ever-present. This foreboding imagery is consistent with other works of Gothic literature.

“‘I am,’ he announced, ‘Mr. Auguste Dupin.’” 

In this critical moment of the plot, Edgar Allan Poe introduces himself to Edmund as Auguste Dupin, a detective character from one of his own stories, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Dupin has impeccable reasoning skills, and Poe embodies him in order to help Edmund find his family. Only after the mystery is solved does he return to being “Poe” again.