The House of Usher: A Glove A glove can only be of use when a hand is inside. When a hand is inserted into a glove, it is able to achieve the purpose for which it was created. Some of these purposes are protection, warmth, and style. Without a hand, a glove is nothing; limp, lifeless, and useless. The glove in this analogy represents the mansion in the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe. The hand would then represent the inhabitants of the house. When the Ushers live there, the house serves to mirror their lives. Without the Ushers, however, the house itself has no purpose, and ceases to exist. In the short story, the narrator describes his visit to a sickly friend, Roderick Usher, in detail. While there, the
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Madeline’s disease is expressed when the narrator discloses, “The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character were the unusual diagnosis” (314). The House of Usher is described similarly. The narrator illustrates, “The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves…….. there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old woodwork which has rotted for long years” (315). Both descriptions discuss the gradual rotting and wasting away of the subject. On the contrary, the narrator says that each, although rotting, was fairly substantial and stable. He describes the effects of Madeline’s disease as having “left…..The mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death.” The house is similarly described; “Beyond this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability. The outward appearance of each of these subjects also causes specific feelings in the narrator. When looking upon Madeline the narrator recalls, “we could not regard her unawed.” (323). After looking upon the house for the first …show more content…
He describes his malady as, “a constitutional and a family evil and one for which he despaired to find a remedy―a mere nervous affection………….[that] displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations.” (317). As the story progresses and Madeline is buried, this unnatural illness takes hold of Roderick and begins to control him. The narrator relates, “And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change came over the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and object-less step. The pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue―but the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out……..There were times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly agitated mind was laboring with some oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary courage.” (324). The characteristics of the sitting room, where Roderick spends a majority of his time, shows these feelings and the mental state of Roderick in a physical, tangible way. The details of the sitting room are described by the narrator as follows. “The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether
Madeline’s disease is expressed when the narrator discloses, “The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character were the unusual diagnosis” (314). The House of Usher is described similarly. The narrator illustrates, “The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves…….. there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old woodwork which has rotted for long years” (315). Both descriptions discuss the gradual rotting and wasting away of the subject. On the contrary, the narrator says that each, although rotting, was fairly substantial and stable. He describes the effects of Madeline’s disease as having “left…..The mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death.” The house is similarly described; “Beyond this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability. The outward appearance of each of these subjects also causes specific feelings in the narrator. When looking upon Madeline the narrator recalls, “we could not regard her unawed.” (323). After looking upon the house for the first …show more content…
He describes his malady as, “a constitutional and a family evil and one for which he despaired to find a remedy―a mere nervous affection………….[that] displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations.” (317). As the story progresses and Madeline is buried, this unnatural illness takes hold of Roderick and begins to control him. The narrator relates, “And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change came over the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and object-less step. The pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue―but the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out……..There were times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly agitated mind was laboring with some oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary courage.” (324). The characteristics of the sitting room, where Roderick spends a majority of his time, shows these feelings and the mental state of Roderick in a physical, tangible way. The details of the sitting room are described by the narrator as follows. “The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether