Theme and message

Fear

The theme of the short story “The Premature Burial” by Edgar Allan Poe is fear, and the possibility of overcoming it. 

The narrator hears about cases of people who were buried alive and realizes they happen quite often. As he continues to read up on the subject, he realizes there is a thin line between life and death, and there is reasonable cause to fear this might happen to him. His fear grows when he develops a condition that resembles catalepsy. The fear gets worse and worse, the more he keeps thinking about it, and reading about it. 

The fear grows so much that he is unable to function. He avoids leaving the house, has trouble sleeping, and even comes to distrust his friends. He is tormented all the time by terrifying visions of death. Not even all the measures he takes, such as remodeling his family vault to allow him to escap...