The Fall of the House of Usher Entry

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe recounts the narrator's experience visiting his friend, Roderick Usher. During his time at the House of Usher, Roderick Usher's twin sister, Madeline, dies, or they believe she has died. Roderick and the narrator entomb Madeline, believing she has died. After her entombment, Roderick's normal duties are forgotten and he simply wanders the house, "the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out" (Poe 697). Seven or eight days after her entombment, the narrator cannot sleep. He ends up reading the Mad Trist of Sir Launcelot Canning to Roderick, who cannot sleep either. Near the end of the story, Madeline appears, having escaped her entombment. She finally dies after falling on her brother, taking him down with her, as he dies as well. The narrator then flees the house before it and the family fall.

Throughout The Fall of the House of Usher, there is not a clear, encompassing, overwhelming argument. The story is a perfect example of a work from the Gothic period of literature, so it contains several scary elements, such as Madeline being covered in blood when she returns from her entombment, the mysterious illness that plagues the Ushers and the fact that the narrator truly knows very little about his longtime friend, Roderick Usher, from that period of literature. At best, the story seems to argue that one should truly know his companions before deciding to stay with them for an extended period of time. This is best shown by the fact that, until the narrator helped Roderick bury her, he wasn't even aware that Madeline was Roderick's twin sister.

The story is not like many of the other pieces of literature previously read in the year. It is most similar to the other works by Edgar Allen Poe that have been read, specifically The Raven and Annabel Lee, which are both from the Gothic period and contain similar elements of mystery and symbolism. It is from the Gothic period of literature, which is completely different from the works of the Enlightenment and the period prior to it as well as being distinct from Rip Van Winkle, the only other narrative read so far.