The unnamed narrator is the story’s protagonist and is defined mostly by his sense of curiosity and all-consuming fascination. His intense interest in understanding other people drives the story’s plot as he chases the old man through the London streets day and night, recounting the different people and environments he encounters and attempting to solve the mystery surrounding the old man.

In his first-person account, the narrator presents himself as an outside observer, alienated from the rest of society. He has been isolated from others for a long time due to an unspecified illness, and even when he is able to rejoin society he chooses to sit alone in a café and observe other people instead of interacting with them. Through the narrator’s outsider status, Poe highlights the Anonymity of City Life: the narrator can exist amongst the crowd while remaining solitary and anonymous.

Furthermore, the narrator imagines that his outsider status gives him a special ability to understand and interpret others. Thus, as he observes the crowd outside, the narrator imagines himself an acute observer of human nature, someone who can read people’s true intentions and characters in their faces. This suggests that he feels superior to the people outside.