The Fall Of The House Of Usher As A Tale Short Story

Superstitions are a mysterious part of any culture, and those mysteries greatly influence mysterious writers. Edgar Allen Poe, one of the most famous mysterious authors, use the many mysterious encounters he faced as an asset for his short stories. A major influence was his time in Charleston, South Carolina, where he learned of the many superstitions and rituals of both the blacks and the whites of the area. His interests in horrific rituals like premature burials and zombication (which mainly involves voodoo, familiar to the Lowcountry Gullah culture) helped him to write horrific short stories, like “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Poe’s gory and eerie setting of the house itself and the off-putting characteristics of the Usher siblings expressed Poe’s knowledge of paranoia and interest of the “living dead,” which comes in the weird rituals of the Gullah culture.

The short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar are two well known works of literature that encompass unique literary styles. Poe utilizes Gothic literature in his story, a style of writing that incorporates elements of darkness, gloom, drama, and intense descriptions. On the other hand, Cortazar uses Magical Realism and its realistic characters, setting, and fantastic and unusual events to tell his tale. Despite the two being completely different genres, they share many similar traits, specifically relating to fear.

With our imagination we can have many thoughts in our mind, we can think of how we want to be in the future. Everybody in this world has their own way of thinking. “In the Gothic stories, “The Fall of The House of Usher written by Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar the authors write about how both stories have some type of interest that makes the reader want to be very eager about the story. The imagination can overcome reason through issues such as: fear, paranoid, delusion, etc. The House of The Fall of Usher talks about how Mr. Usher is trying to get over his “dead” sister and the narrator is trying to help him. They begin to hear things inside the house, and realize that the sister was alive at the end. House Taken Over about a bother and sister that share a house that’s been passed over from previous family members and normally they have a typical daily routine but at night they come across “spooky” occasions.

For once In my life, I actually enjoyed a reading more than the movie about it. The movie and the short story of The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allan Poe, differ immensely. However, it was necessary to make the movie different to add more interest to the intended audience. The short story and the movie of The Fall of the House of Usher are very different in three main aspects: the relationships between the characters, the interpretation of the two remaining Ushers, and the presentation and demise of the house itself.

Throughout both short stories, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over” readers are exposed to situations in which imagination overcomes reason in some characters. In the short story, “The Fall of The House of Usher” written by Edgar Allan Poe imagination overcomes reason with both the narrator and the main character. Roderick Usher and the narrator believe they are hearing the noises in the house that are being described in a novel they are reading. In addition, Usher’s imagination overcomes his reason when he believes he hears noises of his dead sister Madeline. Similarly, in the short story “House Taken Over” written by Julio Cortazar it exemplifies the idea of imagination overcoming reasoning. This is showed when a brother and a sister are driven from their home when it's invaded by unwelcomed visitors. The siblings believe there is an evil force taking over their house. LIkewise, in the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe the idea of imagination overcoming reasoning is shown when the author believes that there is an evil force that keeps reminding him of something he is trying to forget ; Lenore. Aso his imagination takes over his reasoning since he is talking with a raven, even though birds do not talk. In both the short stories and the poem the idea of imagination overcoming reasoning is portrayed throughout the characters.

Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” represent many similarities and differences. “House Taken Over”, a short story that focuses on siblings that live in a house they inherited from family that comes with an unwanted cacophony. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, a short story that focuses on the mysterious ways of the house and the owner, Roderick Usher, who sends a letter to the anonymous narrator calling for help. These short stories use literary styles including Gothic Literature and Magical realism; which keeps readers questioning with curiosity on what's happening next.

The Fall Of the House Of Usher is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1839. The short story is complexly written, with challenging themes such as identity and fear. Poe utilises many elements of the Gothic Tradition such as setting and supernatural elements to create a more mysterious story, and uses language to his advantage, employing adjective filled descriptions of literal elements that also serve as metaphors for other parts of the story.

     One of the central themes underlying the short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, is that of the nature of the house. The way it is described and the way it is so mysterious. Another central theme about this story is the nature of the people that live in the house. They are portrayed very much in the same manner throughout the story. Thus, they have several similarities with each other. All of which are of a bad feeling, showing how bad things are for the people and the house. These similarities are very well laid out in the story and are, I believe, meant to be something to be considered when reading it.

Chills slide down your spine as a breath of wind rushes past your frame. Incoherent whispering fills your ear due to the flowing wind… Edgar Allen Poe, one of America’s most prolific writers, wrote numerous horror stories that defined the genre for modern writing. Poe used a specific writing style, which is now well known, but was it constant from one story to the next? Despite differences in plot and length, there are similarities of tone, setting, structure, narration, and character between two of his most famous stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that allude to Poe’s true writing style.

Deteriorating towns are generally filled with a mere handful of inhabitants still clinging to whatever life they used to have. Houses fall apart. Quality of life decreases. People become unstable due to their inability to provide for themselves and their families. This has been seen all over: the towns become relics and the people become charity cases. When the going gets tough the tough get going; however, those inhabitants who choose to stay rewrite their endings. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of imagery portraying decay in “The Fall of the House of Usher” serves to set up the final fate of the two main characters.

In the story “ The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, has an American romanticism with its characters. Edgar Allan Poe is considered a Dark Romanticism because of the way he writes his poems and short stories centered around the concept of evil human nature, darkness, and death. Roderick and Madeline Usher were said to be related during the middle of the story; they were twins. It explained how they were sick, Roderick had a mental disorder and Madeline was physically sick. As the narrator enters the desolate house, he finds both Roderick and his sister in a severe state of depression and they both appear sick like. The narrator tries to make Roderick feel better, but Roderick wouldn’t budge. Roderick thinks that the house is making him sick and making him to appear crazy.

Throughout history, various works of literature compelled the readers to feel a specific way. The authors used different techniques to illustrate emotions toward their audience. Specifically, Edgar Allan Poe, author of The Fall of the House of Usher, uses literary elements, such as imagery, characterization and word choice, to portray the build up the sense of horror.

Humans in today's society are very interested in the supernatural. The supernatural can consist of ghosts, vampires, and even the devil. No one really knows if these supernatural things are real, but by reading Edgar Allan Poe’s work, he might just convince you to believe in them. To be specific, in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe many people debate about the presence of supernatural beings. There are five sides to this debate, natural causes, the house and family have a bond, the house is haunted, the Usher family are vampires, and a chance that there is a physiological reason for all of the happenings in the Usher house.

Edgar Allen Poe is recognized as a great writer of Gothic. Poe stories all relate to each other in some way. Most of his short stories consist of mystery and horror. The two stories I choose was the “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. They both can be compared to each other by their setting, characters, and theme.

Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories incorporated elements of Romantic and Gothic Literature. The Fall of the House of Usher had many Gothic elements in the anecdote. The story takes place in a castle and has many overwrought emotions from a set of siblings. There are a number of inexplicable events, and a woman in distress because of her family’s expectations. Poe also threw in Romantic elements, such as imagination and looking to the past for wisdom, because Roderick Usher must pursue his family’s footsteps to keep the family name alive.