Summary: And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
Poe’s style of writing is creepy, spooky and eerie, but with this style it is effective in creating a dramatic atmosphere in the story that makes the reader tremble, but want to keep reading. The first example I saw of this was “with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (Poe 708). Another example of this overly dramatic writing is the passage where they both hear her described by Poe as “as I placed hand upon his shoulder, there came a strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw he spoke . . . ‘miserable wretch that I am!—I dare not—I dare not speak! We have put her living in the tomb’” (Poe 720). Even at the very
The first of the series of unfortunate events happens to Roderick when he writes to the narrator and “spoke of acute bodily illness—of a mental disorder which oppressed him” (709). Madeline is ill and the cause of her illness could not be discovered by her doctors, but she has “settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person” (712). Then Roderick informs the narrator that “Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight” (Poe 716). Then they bury Madeline who is still alive so she has to scratch her way out of the tomb. This causes both Madeline and her brother to drop dead at the same time as told by Poe, “There did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline . . . she remained trembling . . . with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse” (721). At the very end the falls in as the narrator is running away he sees “the mighty walls rushing asunder” (721). Both the death of the brother and sister at the same time and the crashing down of the house symbolizes the end of the Usher