Response To The Fall Of The House Of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher Written by Edgar Allen Poe is a story with many twists and turns, like any other Poe story is. Poe is, in my opinion, one of the greatest writers in history, and quite possibly the best gothic literature writer. Every Poe story I have read is very interesting and keeps you interested through the entire thing. This story is no different, the way the story is written it really makes the reader think about what is going on. Furthermore, Poe keeps you into this story by bringing all sorts of emotions to the table.
My Response as a reader of this story is extremely torn because I do not know whether to think of the story positively or negatively. The story had a wonderful, and …show more content…
This may sound weird but I picture the mansion as if it were the Adams family mansion because of the dark picture I get from it. The narrator begins to make my expectations of this story be that of an old friend visiting a dying one. I say this because of the way the narrator describes Usher in this portion of the story. The narrator describes Usher as so, “A cadaverouness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve” (Poe 88). From this description you may understand how I have come to the conclusion that the narrator is visiting his friend that is dying. The way he describes his complexion, comparing it to that of a cadaver, and saying his lips are thin, shapes the expectation that Usher is withering away, and dying. Moreover, when the narrator and Usher speak about Madeline, Usher’s sister, I feel as if they may have the same situation and Usher is going to slowly become as sick as his sister. At this point in the story I have quit trying to figure out what comes next because all of my expectations were just blown out of the water. When Usher decides to bury his Madeline downstairs I assumed she was dead prior, but once again my assumption was wrong. I never expected Madeline to be alive still after she was buried. When I found out that his sister was still alive I had to take a step back …show more content…
I believe Poe was trying to say Usher was almost tired of taking of his sister with her disease so he just wanted to end his and her misery and kill her. This is much more complex than that though, it could be taken many ways by different people who read this story depending upon where the reader is at in their life, and also the reader’s emotions at the time of the read. The house could represent a person’s life, and after the good things (good things being Usher and Madeline) are gone this person’s life (being the house) is meaningless. I took it as if the house was almost a trap and maybe a bad luck charm. The house almost portrayed a time in someone’s life where they felt as if they couldn’t escape from, almost like a prison. This means then that Roderick and Madeline were trapped in the house forever which would make sense because the story tells us Roderick hasn’t left in years. The falling of the house in my opinion, represents the freeing of the two siblings from all their worries. So, in a real life situation freeing someone of their struggles, pains, and even from their own minds. This story really made you think hard about the meaning. Anytime a story makes me think as hard as this one has I realize after I like it, because some stories you read, then you set the