Similarities Between The Devil And Tom Walker And The Fall Of The House Of Usher

The Joker once said, “The darkness surrounding us cannot hurt us. It is the darkness in your own heart you should fear.” This quote relates to the gothic stories of “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” because it's not so much the darkness of the outside world that makes these stories scary, but the night that took over the hearts of the characters. Both stories show various similarities and differences in how they present Gothic literature. For example, both stories are similar because they use symbolism, but they are different because in “The Devil and Tom Walker” the author takes advantage of satire. In contrast, the author of “The Fall of the House of Usher” shows us many examples of personification. Irving and Poe’s Gothic tales are similar in their inclusion of eerie mood and suspenseful symbolism, which both play major roles in creating the tension of the stories. For example, they show the mood in “The Fall of the House of Usher” based on the setting. Poe uses elements of old worn down buildings, gates, and stagnant water as shown

Irving also shows mood in “The Devil and Tom Walker” by discussing the deep dark swamp. In paragraph four Irving states, “The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday, and a retreat for all the owls of the neighborhood;” This quote shows how the deep dark swamp is not a good place for humans, and it creates a scary mood that represents what Gothic literature is all about. Poe’s story “The Fall of the House of Usher” shows a great example of symbolism in paragraph 5, “Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely