Explicit antecedents of King's story of captivity, love, and madness are Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems.

Jessie remembers the narrator of "The Tell-tale Heart" (1843) commenting to his interviewers, that he is not mad, only nervousness. She also tries to persuade herself that she is also not mad, only nervous. However, like that famous unreliable narrator, she does not fully convince readers.

Jessie also often quotes Poe's "The Raven" (1845) to ironic effect, as she realizes that its romanticism of lost love does not fit her feelings for Gerald. Indeed, she realizes that her romanticism has protected and excused the behavior of the abusive men in her life. Yet the phrase "Only that and nothing more" rings true for her, as it memorializes a moment of infinite loss and change. Like the eclipse, Jessie's entrapment and subsequent realizations are a monumental event, altering all perception.

This...