ENGL 2130
Analytical Essay
Rhonda Whittenberg
07 March 14
USher
Even though we do not know the name of the Narrator, it is almost as if we are looking through his eyes as he approaches the House of Usher. He has been lifelong friends with Roderick Usher, who sends him a note asking for him to help. Roderick’s sister, Madeline, suffers from catalepsy and he suspects that she will die soon. Considering they are the last of the Usher living bloodline, Roderick feels that he and Madeline should make a baby to keep the name bloodline going. When she denies him, he gets mad at her and when she “dies” he buries her not knowing that she is still alive. The narrator begins by describing the day as a “dull, dark, and soundless day …show more content…
in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens”. (Baym, 702) The House of Usher is a gloomy looking home with creepy windows that make you feel like they’re looking at you. Inside of the house, he states that the room had an irredeemable gloom hanging over it” as it was filled with old furniture, dark drapes, musical instruments and books. (Baym, 704) Roderick feels like the house has a hold on him and feels as though it has control over him. (Baym, 705) The story in general goes in a straight timeline.
You begin with the narrator going to the house to check on his friend who has sent him a letter asking for help. When he arrives, Roderick and the narrator talk for a while about everything that has been going on in Roderick’s life that has driven him crazy. He talks about how his sister is very sick and will die soon. The sister eventually “dies” and Roderick buries her not knowing that she is still alive. Roderick tells the narrator that he sees ghosts and the narrator tells him “ these appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical phenomena not uncommon—or it may be that they have their ghastly origin in the rank miasma of the tarn.” (Baym, …show more content…
712) There are so many different tones in this story. The day is gloomy and dark, making it seem like something bad is going to happen from the start. Roderick is suffering from a mental illness and talks about how he feels like the house has a hold on him. There’s love in this story because he loves his sister, even if it seems to be in a weird way because he wants to make babies with her. There’s sadness because he buries her when he thinks that she dies. At the end, there is suspense because Roderick feels as if he can hear Madeline, even though she is dead. Whenever Madeline walks back into the house covered in blood, screaming, there are multiple feelings going through Roderick. He feels happy that she is still really alive, scared when she falls on him and finally he dies. According to Jonathan Cook, when the narrator leaves to house it “recreates the self-preserving action of the Christian "saving remnant" described in the "little apocalypse" of the three synoptic gospels (Matt.
24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21) and the repeated call to "come out" of Babylon before its collapse as described in the book of Revelation.” (Cook) As soon as he departs from the house, the house splits in two and descends into the ground. Cook also states in his critical essay that “The scene of the final demise of the House of Usher also relies on a few key allusions to the book of Revelation.” (Cook) These allusions are referring to "there was a great earthquake; and the sun become black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood”. (Rev. 6.12) When the moon becomes the color of blood, it means that’s the end of time. The actually fall of the house of Usher isn’t just referring to the house itself, it also refers to the fact that both of the only living Usher’s are now dead. The bloodline will not continue. Roderick’s mental illness is now gone and Madeline no longer will have to suffer from seizures. The house and everything to do with the Usher’s is now
gone.
Works Cited
Baym, Nina. "The Fall of the House of Usher." The Norton anthology of American literature. Shorter 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2013. 702-714. Print.
Cook, Jonathan A. "Poe and the apocalyptic sublime: 'the fall of the house of usher '." Papers on Language & Literature 48.1 (2012): 3+. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
"Revelations ." The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments. Trenton: I. Collins, 1791. Ch. 6 verse 12. Print.