The narrator has wandered far from his beloved's grave before the spirits begin to rewrite their epitaphs.
These are the choices:
To suggest that all human beings have surprising character flaws
To build tension for the narrator's most important discovery
To emphasize the difference between most people and the narrator's beloved
To distract the reader from the main surprise of the story
The answer would be letter B - it is to build tension for the narrator's most important discovery .