The Imagination Of Fear In 'The Fall Of The House Of Usher'

Superstitions are a mysterious part of any culture, and those mysteries greatly influence mysterious writers. Edgar Allen Poe, one of the most famous mysterious authors, use the many mysterious encounters he faced as an asset for his short stories. A major influence was his time in Charleston, South Carolina, where he learned of the many superstitions and rituals of both the blacks and the whites of the area. His interests in horrific rituals like premature burials and zombication (which mainly involves voodoo, familiar to the Lowcountry Gullah culture) helped him to write horrific short stories, like “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Poe’s gory and eerie setting of the house itself and the off-putting characteristics of the Usher siblings expressed Poe’s knowledge of paranoia and interest of the “living dead,” which comes in the weird rituals of the Gullah culture.

To begin with, imagination overcomes reasoning in the characters of the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher”. While in the middle of the storm the narrator seems to be hearing strange noises that have nothing to do with the storm. For example, “An irrepressible tremor gradually pervaded my frame; and at length, there sat upon my very heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm. Shaking this off with a gasp and a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows” (paragraph 31, pg 25). This shows readers that the narrator of the story is hearing noises, and it could be said that Usher’s condition is rubbing off on him. The narrator is unable to sleep at this point in the story because of Usher’s incurable fears that have now taken influence on the narrator because he believes he is hearing things. This demonstrates how imagination overcomes reason in the short

In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the characters' imagination overcomes reasoning when they have anxiety. When the narrator first receives the

Alex’s spookiest experience was when she was watching a t.v. show and it actually convinced her that a women could communicate with the dead. This is related to gothic literature because they both have supernatural elements. However, it's also related to magical realism because it was realistic but also contained surreal elements. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of The House of Usher” is an example of gothic literature because it resembles a dark and mysterious plot. While Julio Cotazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of magical realism because the house gets taken over by Nazi’s, but seems as if ghost’s took over.

Transformation plays a role in stories meant to scare us by playing with our imagination safety and mood of a story. Imagination appears in both Edgar Allan Poe’s, gothic fiction story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” by Usher’s isolated environment and in Joyce Carol Oates gothic literature story “Where is Here?,” by foreseeing who people are. Transformation also plays a role by it assists knowing our own selves are safe in a scary situation. This is shown in, “ Why do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?,” by Allegra Ringo and in “ House Taken Over,” by Julio Cortazar. Transformation plays with our imagination and our safety it also plays a role in the mood and setting. This appears in , “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Dream Collector,”

Edgar Allan Poe used fear to attract his readers into his gothic world. Poe realized that fear intrigues as well as frightens, and sew it as a perfect motif for many of his stories, particularly The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe emphasized the mysterious, desolate, and gloomy surroundings throughout the story to set up the fear that got the reader involved. Then he extended the fear to the characters in order to reveal the importance of facing and overcoming fear. Poe suggested in the story that the denial of fears can lead to madness and insanity. This has clearly shown through the weakening of Roderick Usher's mind and the resulting impact on the narrator of the story.

A Sense of Tension in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Albert Einstein once said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” What one sees as true depends on his or her perspective. In the dark short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the attitudes of the characters affects their fates. Using imagery, symbolism, and allegory, Poe indicates in his story that believing something can be enough to make it true. Poe is well known for his use of haunting imagery.

As with many of Edgar Allan Poe's pieces, "The Fall of the House of Usher" falls within the definition of American Gothic Literature. According to Prentice Hall Literature, American Gothic Literature is characterized by a bleak or remote setting, macabre or violent incidents, characters being in psychological or physical torment, or a supernatural or otherworldly involvement (311). A story containing these attributes can result in a very frightening or morbid read. In all probability, the reason Poe's stories were written in this fashion is that his personal life was fraught with depression, internal agony, and despair. Evidently this is reflected in "The Fall of the House of Usher." Conjointly, Edgar Allan Poe's "The

In the text “The Fall of the House of Usher” there are supernatural events throughout the short story. From the rapidly decaying house that is quite literally connected to the main character Roderick Usher, to the ghost of Roderick's twin sister Madeline. “House of Usher” -- an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion. This line gives us a hint from the title toward the supernatural link between the physical house collapsing and the metaphorical “fall” of the Usher Family. I believe Edgar Poe did this to evoke an uncanny feeling in the reader and to add to the sublime of the short story. This link between living and inanimate gives the story an extra gothic element. “There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold -- then, 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, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.” The supernatural element of Madeline “coming back from the dead” or being a ghost creates conflict within the plot and therefore leads to the inevitable fall of the Usher Family. I believe this ghostly figure struck fear into the reader creating a suspenseful follow up, allowing the imagination to take off and picture this supernatural occurrence. This was never an explained supernatural event. It was left up to the reader's imagination and their assumption as to what is real and what is a figment of the characters imagination. “There was a long and

The short story”The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe,the author described the character Madeline.The story’s most terrifying character is Madeline.

Isolation does not come from being alone, but from being unable to communicate with other people that are not yourself. In 1839 Edgar Allen Poe published the short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The unnamed narrator in the story is asked to visit the mansion of an old friend whom he hasn’t talked to in a very long time. The narrator's friend, Roderick is a sick man who suffers from an "acuteness of the senses," Roderick feels that he will die of the fear he feels. After some time Roderick's sister dies and he entombs his sister in one of the vaults under the mansion. As the days pass Roderick becomes more uneasy. The narrator decides to read a book for Roderick in order to pass the night away, but the sounds from the book come to life. Roderick reveals that he has heard these sounds for days, that Madeline had been buried alive and that she is trying to escape. At the same time, she appears, and attacks Roderick and Roderick dies of fear. The narrator escapes the house; the entire house cracks along the break in the frame and crumbles to the ground. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” theme is "being isolated and its resulting lack of human interaction results in madness" symbolically the house acts as a place of isolation, characteristically Roderick is mentally ill and reserved, and the plot serves to describe that the house collapses reveals that living in isolation results in madness. The theme "being isolated and its resulting lack of human interaction results in madness" in the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” is conveyed through tone, symbol, and character.

“I looked upon the scene before me… the bleak walls… the vacant eyelike windows… the decayed trees… with an utter depression of soul, which I can compare to no earthly sensation… There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart… What was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?” (Edgar Allan Poe) This quote shows how the

Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of American Literature's legendary and prolific writers, and it is normal to say that his works touched on many aspects of the human psyche and personality. While he was no psychologist, he wrote about things that could evoke the reasons behind every person's character, whether flawed or not. Some would say his works are of the horror genre, succeeding in frightening his audience into trying to finish reading the book in one sitting, but making them think beyond the story and analyze it through imagery. The "Fall of the House of Usher" is one such tale that uses such frightening imagery that one can only sigh in relief that it is just a work of fiction. However, based on the biography of Poe, events

Oftentimes when a fearful situation occurs, our minds immediately conclude the most dreadful thoughts when there is no logical reason. In the gothic story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” author Edgar Allan Poe uses fear to capture his readers’ attention. In the story, Roderick Usher let fear control him by letting him believe that he buried his own sister alive. Usher believes that when he was burying his sister, he heard her crying out for help. His mind let him believe