Fall of Usher :: essays research papers

"The Fall of the House of Usher" Summary The fibber approaches the House of Usher on a "dull, dark, and soundless day." This house--the estate of his boyhood star, Roderick Usher--is truly gloomy and mysterious. The narrator writes that the house seems to have collected an evil and unhealthy atmosphere from the decaying trees and murky ponds around it. He notes, however, that although the house itself is decaying in pieces (for example, separate stones are disintegrating), the structure itself is fairly solid. There is only a little(a) break in the front of the building from the roof to the ground. The narrator reveals that he is to stay in this house because his friend, Roderick, sent him a letter severely requesting his company. Roderick told the narrator in this letter that he was feeling bodily and emotionally ill, so the narrator rushed to his house. The narrator also mentions that the Usher family, part an ancient clan, never flourished. Only one member of the Usher family survived from times to generation, so they were all in a direct line of dec without any siblings.The inside of the house is just as spooky as the outside. The narrator makes his way through the long passages and to the room where Roderick is waiting. The narrator notes that his friend is paler and less energetic than he once was. Roderick tells the narrator that he suffers from nerves and fear. His senses are heightened. The narrator also notes that Roderick seems afraid of his own house. Further, Rodericks sister, Madeline Usher has interpreted ill with a mysterious illness that the doctors cannot even identify. The narrator proceed to spend several days trying to cheer Roderick. He listens to Roderick die hard the guitar (and makes up words for his songs), he reads to Roderick, he sits with him for hours. Still, he cannot lift his sadness. presently Roderick posits his theory that the house is unhealthy, just as the narrator had supposed at the beginning of the story.Soon, Madeline dies, and Roderick decides to bury her temporarily in the tombs below the house. He wants to do this because he is afraid that the doctors might dig up her embody for scientific examination (since her disease was so strange to them). The narrator helps Roderick put the body in the tomb. He notes that she has rosy cheeks, as some do by and by death.