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The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay

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In the short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator revisits his old childhood friend, Roderick Usher, after receiving a peculiar letter from him. The narrator later discovers that Roderick comes from a curse-stricken family that has suffered for generations. As the story progresses, the reader is able to witness the toll this family curse takes on Usher, the paranoia it brought, and his eventual mental and physical decline as a result of the heavy burdens. Through Poe’s usage of symbolism, imagery, and personification, he furthers his theme of the unconscious mind and the effects of isolation and fear on the human mind. A major symbol that Poe consistently alludes back to in the piece is the physical condition …show more content…

The small lake only helped to further seclude the Ushers from the rest of society. Poe’s illustration of a makeshift moat emphasizes how guarded and closed off the Ushers truly are; supporting the idea that they’re confined in a slowly decaying mansion. In making little to no effort in connecting with the outside world, Roderick has subconsciously developed a defense mechanism through his isolation. This tactic only brings harm to Usher; enabling the deterioration of his psychological condition and house and allowing him to dive deeper into the bottomless abyss of his mind. In illustrating the effects of fright and Roderick’s defense mechanisms, Poe reinforces his message of the dangers of isolation as a result of uneasiness and intrusive thoughts. However, despite Roderick’s secluded lifestyle being one of the many causes of his poor health, it was a common and reasonable path for troubled people of the 1930s. Mental facilities of this time were known to be brutal, unethical, and inhumane. It was common for patients to be viewed as rabid animals, amounting to nothing more than guinea pigs for their scientific …show more content…

His lack of care and indifference towards life was ultimately reflected in the state of his family home. Unfortunately, Roderick’s biggest fears and reasoning behind his sleepless nights, self-destructive behavior, and paranoia got the best of him. He allowed for the gradual hand-off and takeover process of his life as a whole. The Usher family saw its end, its last breath, once his uneasiness fully consumed him. Poe illustrates a bitter ending through his usage of imagery; providing the reader with the full perspective of the somber causes and effects of isolation and anxiety. Poe treats personification and symbolism as a medium, or means of conveying his ultimate message. He wishes for the reader to truly see the limitless boundaries of the unconscious mind; our minds possess an immeasurable amount of power beyond belief. It has the ability to unleash itself in our living, conscious reality, and Poe hopes for his audience to be aware of the strength within them and use it wisely. In exhibiting Phan 5 our inner force, Poe also exposes the vulnerability of the human psyche. He demonstrates how these abilities occur on a two-way road. Just as the mind has the power to shape one’s

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When the narrator sees Usher for the first time in years, he “gazed upon him with a feeling half of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher!”. From the moment Roderick is introduced, he is described with ominous tones. Although the reader has no idea what Usher had looked like before his illness, the thoughts of the narrator invoke an unsure and suspenseful mood. After spending more time with him, the narrator had also come to learn that “He was enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted, and whence, for many years, he had never ventured forth—in regard to an influence whose supposititious force was conveyed in terms too shadowy here to be re-stated—an influence which some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion had, by dint of long sufferance, he said, obtained over his spirit—an effect which the physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about upon the morale of his existence.”.

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