Thoreau Vs Poe

Despite variances in genre, Edgar Allan Poe’s 1839 Gothic tale, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Slavery in Massachusetts” overlap in their portrayal of morality, the evil world that surrounds the storyline of both literary works, and the use of humor. Thoreau’s essay addresses the importance of morality at the forefront of its message, while Poe’s story contains an underlying moral lesson of the same nature. By pointing out the flaws in legislation, Thoreau challenges the people to focus on what is morally right or wrong, instead of emphasizing what is constitutional or unconstitutional. Thoreau believes, “The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free” (Thoreau 1149). By making

When reflecting on the political environment, Thoreau states, “I dwelt before, perhaps, in the illusion that my life passed somewhere only between heaven and hell, but not I cannot persuade myself that I do not dwell wholly within hell. The site of that political organization called Massachusetts is to me morally covered with volcanic scoriae and cinders” (Thoreau 1153). For Usher, his living hell is created by his own mind. He regretfully describes, “I must perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul” (Poe 632). His anxiety of the unknown creates a fear that prevents him from leaving his own house, which ironically results in his downfall. These hellish settings found in both works are partially created by uninformed decision making. Thoreau identifies the government and legislature’s lack of facts and knowledge as the source of immoral legislation. He states, “They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. Their measures are half measures and make-shifts, merely” (Thoreau 1145). In Poe’s story, Usher’s acute senses fail to recognize that his sister is alive and makes a quick decision to have her buried. A more informed decision in both situations might have facilitated a better