Comparing Poe's Fall Of The House Of Usher And The Shining

Edgar Allan Poe’s techniques have indeed proven their efficiency. Not only do they allow the reader to accept the uncanny side of the story, but they also inspire future writers to write similar works based on Poe’s texts. To name a modern classic book that resembles Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, one must not look farther than Stephen King’s 1977 horror novel: The Shining. The critically acclaimed book, which instantaneously lifted Stephen King’s rank among horror authors worldwide, parallels a myriad of devices used in The Fall of the House of Usher. For starter, both stories take place in an isolated residence where three individuals must overcome the evil within the place. Jack, a writer, takes his wife and son, Danny, to The Overlook Hotel. His son has an ability, called The Shining, which permits him to see heinous events that had taken place in the past in the hotel. Jack, who could be easily linked to Roderick, is initially introduced as a sane father and a previous alcoholic. As the story progresses, however, the evil within the hotel and the ghosts of previous residents start to mess with Jack. They realize that if Jack were to drink some alcohol, he would kill his family and …show more content…
Perhaps Poe’s own confession, but that seems unlikely. The narrator of the story tells us about William Wilson, a man who not only shares the same appearance as he does, but also excels better than him in everything. They are too similar and too different at the same time in that the narrator has an evil lurking within, whereas William Wilson is goodhearted. They are the Chinese Yin and Yang: despite being two opposites, they do, in fact, complete each other. There are many identical twins that turn out to have very opposite personalities, and those two are just like that, except for not being siblings. One is rebellious, and the other is the sound of morality. One is loud, and the other speaks calmly, in