Combining fear and loneliness is the perfect combination for one's imagination overlooking reasoning. This just so happens in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of the Usher", and in Julio Cortazar's "House Taken Over". In "The Fall of the House of the House of Usher", Rodrick Usher requests his old friend to visit him at his home because he is ill. Once he arrives, he realizes what a gloomy place the Usher mansion turns out to be and the tragedies of Usher's life. Spooky occurrences happen during the narrator's visit and he discovers that everything is not what it seems to be. In "House Taken Over", the narrator and his sister, Irene, live in their ancient family home. Neither are married, nor do either of them have a complex life as …show more content…
First, in "The Fall of the House of Usher", the narrator is fearful and illogical when he enters Usher's mansion. The narrator believes that his mind is being consumed by the unknown force that pervades Usher's comfortless fortress. Others elements that contributed to this belief was the gloominess that encased the home, as well as the dark décor, and Usher's grief from the passing of his twin sister, Lady Madeline. Another instance in which fear was the cause of imagination overlooking reality includes when Usher is afraid of the future. Usher is very anxious and cautious throughout the whole story. His fear ultimately leads him to believe that his sister is dead when in reality, she is alive but only has the appearance of a corpse due to her illness. As a result, Usher's fear allows his imagination to take over his mind and to see the worst in every situation which provoked him to bury her. Lastly, in "House Taken Over", the narrator and Irene's fear of the unknown prompts their imaginations to overlook reasoning. "We were fine, and little by little we stopped thinking. You can live without thinking", (Cortazar,41). As the mysterious force takes over the character's home, the narrator and Irene are not very alarmed. Both have become accustomed to the familiar evacuation and they go about their daily lives normally. Their fear has been numbed and their …show more content…
To begin, Usher is very lonely and lacks companions. He resides in his grand mansion with Madeline, however, due to her illness and eventual 'death', Usher is practically alone. Since he spends his time alone, he overthinks simple things, and he lets his imagination get the best of him. Also, in "House Taken Over", the narrator and Irene are very isolated as well. Both the narrator and Irene are very quiet. Neither one of them maintains a social interaction with anyone besides with themselves. As a result, the siblings mostly remain indoors, specifically in their bedrooms where Irene knits and the narrator reads. The characters' loneliness impacts how their imaginations overcome reasoning because they overthink the fact that a questionable entity is taking sections of the home. They overthink a great deal that leads them to think that this 'thing' is not threatening. In addition, in "The Fall of the House of Usher", Usher's loneliness causes his mind to live in his own world. "...The entire family lay in the direct line of descent...very temporary variation...", (Poe,15). This quote relates to Usher's loneliness and it provides the connotation that the family is very isolated and secluded. His desolate persona also tells readers that his mind has wandered farther and farther as his illness intensified, and how Usher created a different domain within his mind. Therefore,
There are many similarities that we could obviously realize between the two stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” of Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” of Julio Cortazar. One of them is the settings of two stories, those were similar because they both took place in a creepy house. However, there also are many differences between two stories. For example, in Poe’s story, the setting was a dull and dark night, and the gloomy and dusty house of Usher was in the middle of nowhere. By contrast, Cortazar's setting was a warmer house, which was being carefully cleaned by the brother and sister every day.
In the story, “The Fall of The House of Usher”, there are many mysterious happenings that go on throughout the story between the characters Roderick Usher and the narrator. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe uses themes such as madness and insanity to connect the house back to Roderick Usher. In the “Fall of The House of Usher”, the narrator goes through many different experiences when arriving to the house. The narrator’s experiences start out as almost unnoticeable in the beginning, turn into bigger ones right before his eyes, and end up becoming problems that cause deterioration of the mind and the house before the narrator even decides to do anything helpful for Roderick and his mental illness. In “The Fall of The House of Usher”, Edgar Allan Poe uses comparison between the physical House of Usher and the family of Usher to describe that looks can be deceiving and that little problems can lead to later downfall.
When writing a story that is meant to scare the reader, authors use a variety of different literary elements to intensify fear. This is apparent in the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “beware: do not read this poem,” and “House Taken Over”. It is shown through transformation in the character, setting, and sometimes even the story or poem itself, adding to the scariness that the reader feels when reading it. While there are some examples of transformation not being scary or not playing a role in stories meant to scare us, transformation plays a crucial role in making the reader of these stories scared.
When comparing the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” written by Edgar Allen Poe and “The House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar. The setting in both are in a creepy, big house with a gothic style to it, which makes it more creepy. Both of the authors were a dark and demented type. Both in their stories have a big, empty house with a few people in them, with either kids that are living alone or with grandparents. Also both stories have a sense of having something under their sleeve to hit us with.
The narrator in "the House of Usher" was actually the friend of the main character of the story, Roderick Usher, who lived with his sister in the house and both had mental sicknesses that had ultimately led to their deaths. While the house was not actually haunted, as horror stories usually are made up of, there was a permeating sense of decay about the building that continued up to the two owners of the house, with their depression and gloom, and the sister's ability to withdraw in a catatonic state that would make anyone unaware of the condition conclude that the person had died. The house, which was the setting of the story, was not bathed in light or warmth; it was either always dark, or gloomy, "melancholy" was the word frequently used; and the reference to the crack in the wall was to show that it was on its way to destruction; all it needed wa...
Towards the middle of the story, Usher’s twin sister Madeline is shown to be sick and close to giving into the “prostrating power of her destroyer” (21). Eventually, Usher gives the narrator the bad news that Madeline has passed away and immediately be placed in the family burial vault until proper arrangements can be done. Later, it is revealed that Madeleine had been buried alive and Usher knew exactly what he had done. When the narrator confronted him about what he did to Madeline, Usher simply replied with “Not hear it - yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long--long--long--many minutes, many hours, many days, have i heard it -- yet I dared not speak...” (28). This abnormal response gives insight into how much of Usher’s thoughts control him; he let his twin sister remain in a coffin buried alive and did absolutely nothing to save her. Poe attacks how vulnerable individuals become to their own minds and forces the readers to consider the downside of the Human Condition. Although not on such intense level as Usher, people let their thoughts define who they are and what they do. Insecurity, a problem among several teenagers and even adults, begins with the person’s thoughts and self-esteem. Due to insecurity, many believe they aren’t capable of doing what they love and that they should stick doing what their mind is convincing them to.
The first sentence of the story begins with the narrator talking about “the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, [he] had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary track of country;…” (McMichael). As the narrator is approaching the House of Usher, he begins to feel this sense of eerie, depression, and anxiety because he has not seen his friend for a long while and he already knows about his mental illness so he becomes curious of what he will find but already he is starting to get the effects of the depression that Usher is suffering from, alongside with his mental illness
He explains the outside of the house vividly when the narrator arrives by stating, “Upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain-- upon the bleak walls-- upon the vacant eye-like windows-- upon a few rank sedges-- and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees-- with an utter depression of soul”(Poe 474). The narrator goes into detail and puts an image in the reader's mind of the outside of the house and his first impression of it to create more of an eerie and depressed mood and to show how dark and plain the house is. This also helps show what kind of character Usher is and how sick he is because he is unable to take care of his house. It explains why Usher is always in an unhappy mood because his house is so dark and
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” the settings are similar because they can both be described as dark in some passages, and ultimately alluring. However in Poe’s “The Fall of the House,” the setting is revolving around the climax, so it is all very dramatic and highly detailed, almost ominous. In contrast, Cortazar’s setting is slightly more laid back, things take place in time and it is all very dreamlike.
In "The Fall of the house of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe creates suspense and fear in the reader. He also tries to convince the reader not to let fear overcome him. Poe tries to evoke suspence in the reader's mind by using several diffenent scenes. These elements include setting, characters, plot, and theme. Poe uses setting primarily in this work to create atmosphere. The crack in the house and the dead trees imply that the house and its surroundings are not sturdy or promising. These elements indicate that a positive outcome is not expected. The thunder, strange light, and mist create a spooky feeling for the reader. The use of character provides action and suspense in the story through the characters' dialogue and actions. Roderick, who is hypochondriac, is very depressed. He has a fearful apperance and his senses are acute. This adds curiosity and anxiety. The narrator was fairly normal until he began to imagine things and become afraid himself. Because of this, the audience gets a sense that evil is lurking. Madeline is in a cataleptic state. She appears to be very weak and pail. Finally, when she dies, she is buried in a vault inside of the mansion. In this story, the plot consists of rising events, conflict, climax, and resolution. The rising events include the parts in the story when the narrator first arrives at the house, meets Roderick, and hears about Roderick's and Madeline's problems. Madeline's death and burial are part of the conflict. At this point, Roderick and the narrator begin to hear sounds throughout the house. The sounds are an omen that an evil action is about to occur. The climax is reached when Madeline comes back from the dead and she and her twin brother both die. Finally, the resolution comes when the narrator escapes from the house and turns around to watch it fall to the ground. The theme that Edgar Allen Poe is trying to convey is do not let fear take over your life because it could eventually destory you.
Fear is a prominently depicted theme in this short story. From the start of the short story, you are able to sense the fear through the words of the narrator. The words of the narrator convey that the setting as a fearful place, the House of Usher. When the narrator makes his way towards the House of Usher, the sense of mystery and fear takes over, intimately causing the narrator to shiver. The setting itself was not the only detail conveying fear, further in the story we encounter Roderick. Roderick is the excellent example of fear, as exemplified when he said: “I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect--in terror. In this unnerved—in this pitiable condition--I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason
The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.
The Depiction of Fear in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe uses setting to create a melancholy and gloomy mood in the story. The story starts off with an unnamed narrator who is traveling on a “dull, dark and soundless day” (Poe 1). The story already has gloomy mood, without mention of the house of Usher. Before the narrator enters the house, he describes it as “inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows” (Poe 2). The house of Usher looks run down, scary, and gloomy, like a haunted house. The setting in the first two pages creates this sad and scary mood throughout the rest of the story. Poe uses words such as “black, vacant, decayed, gray, gothic and sluggish” to create the atmosphere. This creates a very effective atmosphere in the entire story and the story revolves around the atmosphere in its entirety, showing that this is no ordinary house and there is evil involved.
Edgar Allen Poe is the author of The Fall of the House of Usher, he is known to write his tales in a vague manner, making it hard to interpret his stories the same each time. The Fall of the House of Usher fits in to this category perfectly. The story begins with a man going to visit and old friend after his friend, Roderick Usher, makes a cry of distress to him. When the reader is first introduced to Roderick we are told about his demeanor