House Taken Over
This is the specific family relationship shared by the narrator and his sister Irene who live together in their large ancestral home.
What are brother and sister?
The narrator travels to the gloomy estate after receiving an urgent desperate letter from this childhood friend.
Who is Roderick Usher?
The grieving narrator is sitting alone reading old books at midnight trying to forget the heartbreaking loss of this maiden.
Who is Lenore?
Written by Louise Erdrich the poem Windigo is deeply rooted in the traditional folklore and storytelling of this specific cultural group.
Who are Native Americans?
This is the exact essential question prompt that your sophomores are answering for their upcoming Savvas Performance-Based Assessment essay.
What is In what ways does transformation play a role in stories meant to scare us?
To pass the time in their quiet house Irene spends most of her day doing this specific creative activity.
What is knitting?
This physical structural defect on the front of the mansion is noticed by the narrator at the start of the story foreshadowing its ultimate collapse.
What is a crack running down the wall?
When the mysterious black bird first flies into the chamber it chooses to perch directly upon a bust of this Greek goddess of wisdom.
Who is Pallas Athena?
The opening lines of the poem describe the physical setting of the forest as being filled with this freezing predatory element.
What is ice?
In The Oval Portrait the horrific transformation occurs because the artist systematically drains the life force and color from his wife's cheeks and moves it directly onto this object.
What is the canvas?
The siblings decide to permanently abandon specific sections of their home because this mysterious entity slowly begins to occupy their rooms.
What is "they" (or unknown beings)?
Roderick Usher suffers from an intense acute illness that makes all of his physical senses painfully over-sensitive a condition known by this medical term.
What is morbid acuteness of the senses?
No matter what desperate agonizing question the narrator asks about his lost love the bird delivers this exact chilling one-word refrain.
What is "Nevermore"?
The terrifying Windigo spirit operates as a literal monster because it forces its human victims to transform into creatures that crave this specific food source.
What is human flesh?
Unlike Windigo which features a physical mutation The Raven features a transformation that is entirely focused on this specific human faculty.
What is the mind?
At the absolute end of the story after fleeing the house entirely the narrator does this physical action with the key to prevent anyone else from entering.
What is throwing it down the sewer drain?
Believing she has succumbed to her wasting illness Roderick and the narrator temporarily place Madeline Usher's body inside this specific household location.
What is a vault directly underneath the mansion?
As the poem progresses the narrator's emotional state undergoes a massive transformation shifting from rational grief into this psychological condition.
What is madness?
The monster takes a physical captive during its raid on the village selecting this specific type of innocent victim.
What is a young child?
In The Fall of the House of Usher Roderick's internal decay is mirrored externally by the transformation and structural collapse of this physical entity.
What is the mansion?
Written by Julio Cortázar this short story is a famous example of this specific literary genre where realistic settings are suddenly blended with unexplained magical elements.
What is Gothic Literature?
At the climax of the story this specific body of water completely swallows the fractured remains of the mansion as it collapses.
What is the "tarn" (or lake)?
In the final stanza the narrator reveals that his soul is permanently trapped inside this specific ominous location on the floor.
What is the shadow of the Raven?
At the conclusion of the poem the internal transformation shifts again when the speaker describes the cold ice inside the monster's chest beginning to do this physical action.
What is melting?
According to our unit matrices horror authors use transformation to terrify an audience because changing a familiar person or place from safe to dangerous triggers this primary human instinct.
What is survival?