Characters
What does the narrator receive from Usher, asking him to come visit?
A letter
Why does the narrator decide to visit Usher?
He is a loyal , childhood friend summoned to the mansion
Severe and long-continued illness—indeed to the evidently approaching dissolution—of a tenderly beloved sister.
What is source of gloom that afflicts Roderick Usher?
What is the setting of the story? (must include when and where)
In a strange old mansion, long ago.
When was the last time Usher left the mansion?
Many years ago
What observable change came over the features of Roderick's mental disorder
He roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and object-less step.Tthe luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no more; and instead a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror.
Describe Usher's physical appearance when the narrator first enters the house
large watery,luminous eyes , pale skin, wild hair, nervous, cadaverousness of complexion;lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, a finely molded chin
Themes of love and death, often with an intense interest in human psychology
What is the Romantic Movement
Describe the outside of the house
antiquity, dilapidated, minute fungi, bleak walls, vacant like windows, white trunks of decayed trees, walls crumbling and cracked, rotting trees, moat with sluggish water
Isolating yourself from the world can cause _______ ________.
Mental problems
What is noteworthy about the storm?
The storm seems supernatural and is heavy with terror and foreboding. These details support the conclusion that this storm is the creation of powers unknown in nature
The narrator finds Usher's actions to be ___________.
Bizzare
How did Usher respond to all the noises the narrator heard during the storm?
smiling sickly, talking to himself, ignoring the narrator
Describe the inside of the old mansion
gothic archway,intricate and dark passages, Dark/blood red draperies, somber tapestries on the walls,ebon blackness of the floors, comfortless, antique, and tattered furniture
The narrator helps Usher __________ ____________ even through he is scared.
bury Madeline
How does Madeline reappear in the story?
She shows up in her brother's room,her white robe blood stained, the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. And with a low moaning cry, fell heavily on her brother, and in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor,together they die.
The characters Usher and Madeline have been___________ from society for many years.
isolated
What color was the moon at the end of the story?
Blood red
What clues in the story prove the story takes place a long time ago?
Answers will vary: Arriving by horse, candles instead of electricity, sending letters.
In this story, the House of Usher is a home, but it is also a symbol. What might it stand for?
Decay and death are prevalent throughout the story. Both Madeline and Roderick meet their demise. The Usher house is decaying and ultimately collapses, signifying its literal and figurative death.
How does the narrator comfort Roderick when he claimed to see and hear weird utterances from inside the mansion?
He reassures him the appearances, which bewildered him are merely electrical phenomena not uncommon. He offered to read one of favorite romances to pass away the terrible night. " the Mad Trist of Sir Launcelot Canning."