Charles Coggins
1. What is the story’s point of view and why do you think the narrator is not named?
The point of view is 1st person. The unnamed narrator and the ack of a specific identity gives him an everyman
quality
2. What are the narrator’s first impression as he arrives to the Usher house?
In the opening paragraph, the Narrator describes his arrival at Roderick Usher's as causing him to feel irrational
fear upon viewing the huge, decrepit house. Among the mansion's features are windows which resemble eyes
and a fissure in the stone zig-zagging its way through the wall of the building.
3. What does the phrase, “the entire family lay in the direct line of the decent” mean?
What is meant by "the entire family lay in direct line of descent…" It means that the ancestors of the House of
Usher have all passed on in their order of death
4. Explain the inconsistencies of Usher’s behavior. What might be the reason for his wildly swinging moods
and differing actions?
A possible reason for Usher’s wildly swinging moods and different actions could be because he suffers from a
nervous disorder that heightens all his senses.
5. Why do you think Poe made Roderick and Madeline twins – not just brother and sister?
They are 2 sides of the same personality, one agitated and lively, the other distracted and stupefied to the point
of catalepsy.
6. When Madeline Usher appears at the end of the story, what do you think has happened? Is she a ghost,
hallucination, or real person who has been buried alive? Use specific textual evidence from the story to support
your answer.
Madeline suffers from a form of seizure disorder called catalepsy. An important fact to remember is that victims
of this disease could enter into a state like a coma in which they appeared to be dead. Madeline, who has been
gradually growing sicker, appears to die, and is buried by Roderick and the narrator. It said, “We did not long
look down at her, for fear and wonder filled our hearts. There was still a little color in her face and there seemed
to be a smile on her lips.”
7. What is the symbolism for the house falling down at the end of the story?
The ending of the Fall of the House of Usher uses the house to symbolize both the decay and ultimate collapse
of a bloodline tainted by incest.