Poes Fall of The House of Usher - The House and its Inhabitants :: Fall House Usher Essays

The House and its Inhabitants In the story The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe presents the level of the end of an illustrious family. As with many of Poes stories, setting and conception contribute greatly to the overall tale. Poes descriptions of the firm itself as wellspring as the inhabitants thereof invoke in the reader a smack of gravity and terror. This can best be seen first off by considering Poes description of the habitation and then comparing it to his description of its inhabitants, Roderick and Madeline Usher. Poe uses several descriptive words in his portrayal of the abode. The readers first icon of the house comes from a direct observation from the cashier. This unnamed narrator states, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. As the narrator continues to describe the house he uses several similarly dismal adjectives. The gloom experienced by the narrator is not limited to merely the house itself. The vege tation, which surrounds the area, is exposit as a hardly a(prenominal) rank sedges and a few white trunks of decayed trees. He emphasizes these facets of the house and its environs by restating the descriptions reflected in a black and lurid tarn. The narrator points out that the house seems to be in a dilapidated condition. While he claims that the house appears structurally sound, he takes time to comment upon the crumbling condition of the individual stones. He also emphasizes the long history of the house by stating that its features recall an excessive antiquity. To of the most striking descriptions used to portray the house are those of the windows and the fissure. He describes the windows as vacant and eye-like. With this description the narrator effectively anthropomorphizes the house. Thus he almost gives the status of character to the house. The other outstanding description is that of the fissure. It is described as a unless perceptible fissure, which extends from th e roof of the building in front, making its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it becomes confused in the sullen waters of the tarn. It is interesting to note that the narrator spends so much time describing a feature that he describes as barely perceptible. The first of the two Ushers to be introduced to the reader is Roderick. He is first seen be upon a couch.