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The Fall Of The House Of Usher Effect

Decent Essays

Edgar Allan Poe once said that the “artistry of narratives is in the ability to achieve a unity of effect” (Clement, lecture notes). His narrative “The Fall of the House of Usher,” is about a man that gets a letter from an old friend that wants him to go visit because he is sick. When he arrives, he notices that his friend and his sister is not the only one affected by illness, the house is too. That leads to the death of the Ushers and the fall of the house. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe makes death and decay, and overall illness, his unity of effect. He establishes this effect through his narrator, the setting of the story, and the tragedy that affects its characters. In this short narrative, there are many textual examples that …show more content…

The usual themes are “themes of imprisonment and danger and an atmosphere of horror and mystery” (Clement, “Engl 210-GothicPoe”). In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the language Poe uses is very ornate and deliberate. By using words that have a deliberate purpose, he is provoking a certain effect. He says a narrative is most effective when it can be read in one sitting, hence why they are called short narratives. One of the ways unity of effect is achieved in “The Fall of the House of Usher” is through the narrator and the other characters that are depicted. The narrator of this short narrative is first person peripheral. The story world of this narrative is a house that has only been occupied by members of the Usher …show more content…

This alone gives us the sense that the setting is a somber place. From that brief section of text, we can begin to picture a place that can be taken as being ill and gloomy. The narrator gives us a very vivid description of the atmosphere of the house. For example, when entering he said it was like he “breathed an atmosphere of sorrow” (The Art of the Short Story, 711). A narratives plot may be the biggest factor in producing an effect. Through the conflict that is presented, the reader is given events that lead them to become interested in the story and its characters. The conflict that takes place in this narrative is that Rodrick Usher, the narrators boyhood friend, is sick and he wants the narrator to go to his estate to visit him. The mystery builds because the illness seems to deadly and it is unclear what exactly is wrong with him. The narrator learned that the “entire family lay in the direct line of descent” and it did not have “any enduring branches” (The Art of the Short Story, 709). Although it is not explicitly stated by the Ushers, the reader can infer that the cause of this family’s illness is incest that has gone on for many

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