Imagination is a concept or image of th external not present to the senses. In the gothic stories, "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" written by Edger Allan Poe and "House Taken Over" written by Julio Corta`zar, both the authers write about characters in psychological and in physical torment surrounding by a bleak and remote setting. The imagination of one can overpower the real cause or reason of an event or action through issuses such as fear, sickness, delusion, paranoia, and numerous other issues that can completely control one's thoughts.
In The Fall of the House of Usher, fear let the narrator's imagination took over his sense of reason because when the narrator made his arrival at the house of usher, he explains to have had a mental barrier
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"I went down the corridor as far as the oak door, which was ajar, then turned into the hall toward the kitchen, when I heard something in the library or the dining room." (Page 39). In this narrator in "putting the water up" to make a beverage known as mate just before the hearing senses of his imagination attract his attention to the sudden sounds of a chair being knocked over onto the carpet and the muffled buzzing of a conversation. "I hurled myself against the door before it was too late and shut it, leaned onto it with the weight of my body; luckily, the key was on our side; moreover, I ran the great bolt into place, just to be safe." (Page 39-40). The fear the narrator gained from the sudden noises he had explained to have heard led to a protective reaction for both himself and lrene. In this case, the narrator had shut …show more content…
The narrator's sense of imagination through hearing had led to senseless fear, which had then led to his mind going into a protective state for both himself and his lrene. This same idea is also presented in a terrifing moment I have lived through once in my life.
I basically thought that I saw my stuffed animal's eyes moving and glancing at me. I was in my bed with my big, fluffy purple blanket just wondering off in my bedroom when I turn around and noticed my bear's eyes turning and glancing at me. I then remembered sometimes your mind tricks you from just thinking randomly to getting scared and then imagining things that may not even be there in the first place. My mind had basically tricked me into thinking the eyes off my stuffed animals were moving and looking at me which got me so scared.
When you're going through bad times or issues such as being scared, sick, dilusional, paranoid, etc., imagination can overcome it and help you through it. In the stories "The Fall of The House of Usher" and "House Taken Over" show many examples of how imagination helps you through the fear and other emtions you might
In “Fall of the House of Usher”, the setting takes place at the house of Usher, whose friend, the main character, comes to visit because Usher is dying. He travels through the house, visiting the family members and sees the house is in a serious state of disrepair. A theory on the story
“The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over,” are two short stories that
“When we look across time and across the world, we find that people can truly become afraid of anything.” This quote by Allegra Ringo explores why and how people get scared. In writing, something used to create fear in the reader is transformation. Transformation in stories is when something changes from itself into something else. Often when something changes from itself into something else, like a werewolf, it is scary. Authors can use transformation to create fear through supernatural events, death and the unknown.
Fear brings forth a certain atmosphere which compels us to act upon it. The era in which the book was published allows us to see how common these fears were. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is an excellent portrayal of how fear controls the human mind by using the characters as examples. In the book Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, and Dr. Montague have all been influenced by fear in the story, whether it be the fear of love, the unknown, family, rejection, expression, or loneliness. These different types of fear plagued their minds causing their actions to reflect upon them. Jackson explores the theme of fear in The Haunting of Hill House by creating a cast of characters that in turn are manipulated by the inner workings of their minds and the
In the short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe, diction is extensively used to create an air of suspense. Poe’s use of diction along with symbolism contributes to establishing a mood of despair. By using symbolic comparison between the Ushers and their house, the story’s suspense builds and the characteristics of the Ushers are portrayed. Poe’s cunning tactics are evident in the way he achieves a story of both suspense and horror.
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 human condition, a concept prevalent in several pieces of literature, encompasses the emotional, moral, questioning, and observant nature of humans. This concept is often used by authors to emphasize the characteristics that set humans apart from other living creature. Edgar Allan Poe’s dark fantasy piece “The Fall of the House of Usher” perfectly depicts the human condition as it conveys how fear and over-thinking can control one’s actions and life.
In the short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortázar they both express a sense of fear taking place in and around the two houses. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a short story where the narrator gets invited by his friend Usher to come and help him with his mental issues and Usher buries his twin sister thinking she was dead, in reality she wasn’t. In “House Taken Over” a magical creature pushes Irene and the narrator out of half of their house leaving them to live in only half of their house and by the end of the story, they are kicked completely out. There are many similarities between these two, as well as a few differences. “The Fall of the House of Usher” falls in the
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 describes his superstition one night, "I endeavored to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the phantasmagoric influence of the gloomy furniture of the room…" (1468). Hence, Poe makes use of the house to create a supernatural effect. Likewise, Poe describes the house to create a terrifying effect. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a horror story. In order to develop a mood to get the reader frightened, Poe must portray the setting of the story. The house is described initially by the narrator, who sees the image of the house as a skull or death’s head looming out of the dead. He is not sure what to think and comments of the properties of the old house: "What was it, I paused to think, what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the house of Usher?
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.
In the story “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe presents the history of the end of an illustrious family. As with many of Poe’s stories, setting and mood contribute greatly to the overall tale. Poe’s descriptions of the house itself as well as the inhabitants thereof invoke in the reader a feeling of gloom and terror. This can best be seen first by considering Poe’s description of the house and then comparing it to his description of its inhabitants, Roderick and Madeline Usher.
In the story, Poe utilized the idea of Romanticism. The basic idea was that the uncultivated were more “natural” and “authentic” than the educated whose style was now considered “artificial” and “affected” (Youngstown State University). To be exact, the characteristic of Romanticism was it banned the rational and intellectual works, and embraced the intuitive and the emotional. Moreover, both Gothic literature and Romantic literature resisted the idea that science can “explain everything” (C. Vogt). Poe’s story, “The Fall of The House of Usher,” highlighted the characteristics of the Romantic period when he wrote it. The genre of the story could be titled as Dark Romanticism or the Gothic Tale. Importantly, the story attributed the main idea of the Romanticism, “mysterious event cannot be explained” or “vagueness.” This event was well illustrated in the end of the story just after the Usher twins, Roderick and Madeline, fell on the ground and were death, the House of The Usher was broken apart into pieces from its zigzag fissure as, “… the fissure rapidly widened… I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder…” and “… dark tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the ‘House of Usher’ ” (Poe, Edgar). In addition, the story particular had the Romantic literature setting of place and place as well. Most of the Romantic or Gothic tales were set up in certain places,
“The room was silent. His heart pounded the way it had on their first night together, the way it still did when he woke at a noise in the darkness and waited to hear it again - the sound of someone moving through the house, a stranger.”(4)
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” exhibits an accurate representation of the Gothic genre. Edgar Allan Poe’s work presents itself as mystifying because of the way he is able to confuse and muddy up the concepts to his readers. Poe incorporates the disappearance and reappearance action of the characters throughout the short story as well as an eerie feeling to represent the Gothic genre. Poe also uses the literary device, Gothic double. However, critics of Poe’s work have considered that some of his short stories are a parody of the Gothic genre. They are both equally represented throughout the short story. Furthermore, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a the best of both worlds.