Creative Nonfiction 12
Activity 1: Short Story (The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe)
Name: _____________________________________
Section: ____________________________________
I.
Matching Type
Directions: Match the role of the character in the short story.
1. Narrator
2. Roderick Usher
3. Madeline Usher
4. Servant
5. Valet
6. Physician
II.
Date: _______________
Score: ______________
a. domestic in the Usher
household who conducts the
narrator to Roderick Usher’s
room
b. the master of the house. He
suffers from a depressing
malaise characterized by
strange behavior
c. one of several doctors who
treat Madeline Usher
d. a friend of the master of the
House of Usher. When he
visits his friend, he witnesses
terrifying events
e. domestic in the Usher
household. He attends to the
narrator’s horse
f. twin sister of Roderick. She
also suffers from a strange
illness. After apparently dying,
she rises from her coffin
Fill-in the Blanks
The setting is referred to by the narrator as “_____________________” to refer to both the physical
structure of the house and the last of the Usher race; ____________and ______________are the last of
the Usher family. Edgar Allan Poe begins by description and continues with description to the extent that
the whole story becomes a descriptive account of the mental breakdown of Roderick. Poe focuses on
settings that had many descriptions and details such as the dark, __________, and _________places in
the story. What he desires is to present a psychological analysis of the life of that strange family. Everything
in the house is breaking down, even the mentality of its owners.