I really enjoyed the “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. While it is a very sick and twisted story, it is really well written and it instills very vivid images into ones mind. I think that my favorite part about this story is the connection between the house and the brother and sister living there. There are many similarities between the descriptions of the house and Roderick Usher, at one point he describes both the house and Roderick in relation to opium users. Also, as Roderick and his sister get sicker and eventually die, so does the house. The crack in the wall that at the beginning is no bother, but by the end of the story during the deaths of the Usher’s, the house cracks in two. I assume that the progress of the house is also in direct relationship to the Usher line, and with each fall of an Usher, the house began to diminish.
In addition, we discussed in class how Roderick’s illness could not be pinpointed to a specific disease. I think that the House of the Usher’s is a character in its self, which is the cause to the downfall of the Usher’s. I also think that once you enter it is like another reality, one that sucks who ever enters the house into its undertakings. This can be seen when the narrator enters the house and stays for a while, making it possible to track his mental state into its demise. Thus, I think that the house is like an infectious disease that is bringing all those who reside there down with it.
I also think there is a connection between the brother and the sister. As the sister gets worse physically, so does the brother mentally. It said how they are twins, if she really does exist; I find it interesting that at the moment they came together they both instantly died. This death of the final Usher’s brings the death of the House of Usher’s as well. Which also has something to do with the end of their bloodline. “while I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened—there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind—the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight—my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder—there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters—and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the House of Usher”
6 comments:
It takes a very active and imaginative mind to come up with a work like this. Poe must have been a very interesting child whose mind continued to grow. This story may have been purely invented by Poe, or it could be a mad mix-match of everything that happened in Poe's life.
Poe experienced a lot of death and disease in his own life. Both his parents died when he was just three years old. His only brother died when he was young. His sister eventually became mad. His wife also endured and died of tuberculosis. You mentioned that Roderick had a disease which could not be pinpointed. Perhaps he took symptoms from all these diseases to invent an unknown disease for Roderick Usher.
I definitely agree that this is "sick and twisted" but very interesting at the same time. I think that is why Poe was so successful. People may have been disturbed by his writings, but they were still tempted to read his works!
I believe that the Poe does have an extremely vivid imagination and that he has a lot of dreary thoughts. He is a very strong writer though and it definitely was more interesting then the other things we have read. I do agree that Roderick does have a disability but I think the narrator has more issues then we are let to believe.
I also enjoyed reading the "Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allan Poe. But I wonder if the sister was dead, a ghost, or just made up. In a way it seemed like it was a game to the sister, and she was just trying to pull a prank on her brother by pretending she was dead. But then why would he put his dead sister's corpse in a room, and lock her up?
The repeated opium reference caught my attention too. Do you think that the Ushers didn’t just seem like they were using opium but that maybe they actually had? Perhaps that was part of the reason for their peculiar inflictions. Also, do you think that Poe used opium and that was why he was able to come up with these nightmarish stories?
I also agree that the house was made into another character, partly by its description and the changes it makes with the changes Roderick and Madeline make but also because of the effect it has on Roderick. It seems to have its own force, like a human or spirit would. There is “an influence which some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion…obtained over [Roderick’s] spirit—an effect which the physique of the grey wall and turrets…had, at length, brought down upon the morale of his existence” (107). Somehow the house has made Roderick feel obligated to stay in it; it is seemingly a part of the family which he feels required to tend to.
That is very true. This reading was very interesting. I agree it was very twisted but well written. It was so desciptive that you can imagine everything in your mind. I like the poin that you mentioned about the Fall of the Usher having a connection with the house also faliing. Good point. Also i also saw the connection between the brother and the sister. Your absolutely right as the sister got sick physically the brothe got worst mentalkly so maybe she did exhist!
I don’t know if I would say that the story was sick per say. “I assume that the progress of the house is also in direct relationship to the Usher line, and with each fall of an Usher, the house began to diminish.” I really like this description I didn’t really think of this before reading on your blog. I found it kind of annoying that we couldn’t pinpoint the disease that Roderick and Madeline have. Madeline seems anoxic to me but that is self-educed. I also didn’t think about the connection between Roderick and Madeline’s illnesses. You brought up some very interesting ideas and really made me think a whole more.
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