Gothic Vocab & Context
In Part 1, the stones of the house are in a state of decay. Does decay mean:
Rotting/falling apart
How does the narrator feel when he first rides up and looks at the House of Usher in Part 1?
Sad, gloomy, scared, or full of dread.
When people use the phrase "House of Usher," what TWO things are they talking about?
The physical house AND the Usher family.
Which sentence from Part 1 proves the air around the house is unwell?
It was a sickly, unhealthy air that I could see, slow-moving, heavy, and gray.
At least TWO specific details.
Roderick Usher has a morbid sickness.
Does morbid mean:
Unhealthy/diseased
Roderick says he is not afraid of pain, but only fears terror itself. What is he most afraid will happen to his mind?
Hint: "He fears what terror will do to his mind and soul.
He is afraid he will lose his sanity / go crazy from fear.
Exposition
Name ONE physical detail from the text that was apart of Madeline's thin form?
In Part 2, the narrator and Roderick carry a mournful burden to the vault. What is the physical burden they are carrying?
Hint: What heavy object were they carrying down the stairs to the iron door?
Madeline’s body / coffin
Roderick believes the gray walls of his house and the dark lake have a "strong hold" on his spirit. What does he believe is controlling him?
His house / physical environment.
Roderick sings a song called "The Haunted Palace" about a beautiful palace that turns dark and evil. What is this song really describing?
The palace represents a human head/mind.
Name ONE reason Roderick gives for putting Madeline's body in an inside vault instead of the graveyard.
Name ONE behavioral action from the text that shows Roderick Usher is losing his mind.
Walking nervously from room to room, sitting staring at nothing for hours, or his voice trembling.
Roderick suffers from an increase in the feeling of all his senses (he can't stand bright light or loud sounds).
Does senses mean:
Hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling and smelling
At the end of Part 3, Roderick screams, "MADMAN! I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS AT THE DOOR!!" Why is he screaming?
Because he realizes his sister escaped the vault and he buried her alive.
In Part 3, as the narrator reads aloud a bedtime story about breaking down a door, what happens in the real house?
Real cracking and ringing sounds happen in distant parts of the house / Madeline breaks out.
"I heard her first movements many days ago — yet I did not dare to speak!"
If a student writes a great answer explaining Roderick's sickness but forgets to include quotes/details from the text, how many points will they get?
1 Points
In Part 3, Roderick’s face is described as "whiter and more ghastly than before". What color or look does his face have?
Deathly pale, white, or ghost-like.
When the narrator sees the "sickly gray air" around the house, does he try to ignore it as a dream, or does he immediately believe in ghosts?
He tries to shake it off as a dream/imagination.
How does the story end in Paragraph 45?
The narrator escapes on his horse as the house cracks in half and sinks into the lake.
What color is the moon shining through the crack in the house as it collapses?
Blood-red.
"Roderick's mental decay is shown physically when his face looks _______. It is also shown in his behavior when he _______."
ghastly white and walking from room to room.