The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Like "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "Thou Art the Man" is an experiment in the detective fiction genre which Poe invented and called "tales of ratiocination". This story, however, is narrated by the detective himself, who must mystify the reader by presenting a problem to which he already knows the solution. Guilty parties in both stories are shocked into revealing their secrets: the sailor in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is shocked into revealing his escaped orangutan, and in "Thou Art the Man" the criminal is revealed when seeing his victim come back to life. The story is also presented humorously, satirizing the rural country town and making a caricature of its residents. The story can be considered a burlesque of Poe's own tales of ratiocination.