What Is The Difference Between The Fall Of The House Of Usher

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.

In “Fall of the House of Usher”, Edgar Allan Poe uses parallels between Roderick Usher and the House to illustrate how one affects the other. The House particularly compares to the physical appearance with Roderick Usher. To illustrate, Rodericks physical appearance is crumbling, much like the Houses “crumbling condition of the individual stones” (Poe 323). With human like qualities, the Houses “vacant eyelike windows” are a direct parallel to Rodericks “large eye, liquid and luminous” (Poe 322-324). In other words, the Usher family is so connected to their home that Roderick begins to physically look like the worn down, dark and mysterious House that is his abode. Not only does the House have similar physical parallels, but Rodericks

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.

There are many similarities and differences in the stories “Fall of the House of Usher” and “House taken over” , both of these stories fall under very similar literature types .

Fear is something that we all ponder about it, we are often pulled in with many authors different way of trying to explain it. In the gothic setting of “The Fall of the Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and the magical realism of “House taken over” by Julio Cortazar lies a type of dark force within the extensive houses. In the fall of the house of usher we are introduced to the usher siblings and how they deal with the evil within their vast mansion in the middle of nowhere. In house taken over we met two siblings that live within the city and how they deal with their unstoppable force of evil. Both siblings have a different way of dealing with their house, some go mad because of it. The plot of both stories is similar but the way they explain their thoughts make the stories very different from each other. The authors try develop through the characters, setting, and plot that although both stories are different in many ways both captivate the reader with fear in different ways and create an overall different tone and atmosphere for the reader.

“Fear is not real. It is the product of thoughts you create. Danger is very real, but fear is only a choice.” Fear is not something that is always real, such as when Usher was scared but there was nothing to fear yet, but the danger at the end of the story, especially for Ushers friend, was something to fear for. In the Gothic Literature short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the setting is somber and creates an illusion of darkness. On the other hand, “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar, portrays the idea of magical realism in, which setting is more realistic and less gloomy. Although Gothic Literature and Magical Realism are similar, there are also many differences, especially in their settings.

Although Both Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “ House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar have settings set in large, old, spooky houses, the setting is different because Edgar Allan Poe’s setting s in a much older than House Taken Over. The author in “The Fall of the House of Usher” also relies time more on the supernatural in his setting with visions of ghosts and figures while the “ House Taken Over” is set in a normal old house.

In the haunting House of Usher resides Roderick and Madeline Usher, who are both just as disturbing as the house itself. Their house is used to symbolize Roderick Usher. Throughout the story, the house is described as dark with many layers and hard to reach corners much like Roderick’s mysterious character. “No portion of the masonry had fallen; are there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones” (265). While the house is still acceptable as a whole, little pieces are falling apart one by one, much like Roderick.

In the story "The Fall of the House of Usher" there is suspense and symbolism that can be written about, this story also provides many Gothic elements. In "The Fall of the House of Usher"

In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher" the opening paragraph develops a particular attitude towards the House of Usher. The attitude that is created toward the house is insufferable gloom. This attitude is created through the choice of words and phrases Edgar Allan Poe uses throughout the paragraph.

The narrator of the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a interesting character. Throughout the story the narrator interacts with Roderick and Madeline and witnesses their mental illnesses and Rodericks physical illness and how the incest between their ancestors have caused major problems in the family. What the narrator witnesses in the story is traumatic and in certain ways very life changing or altering. As a result of the events that occur in the Usher family home the narrator becomes unreliable as a narrator. The narrator is unreliable as a narrator because of the traumatic events that occur in the Usher family house and how they could have compromised the narrator's credibility as a narrator by changing or traumatizing him, and the events that occurred right before the Usher family house collapsed.

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.

Edgar Allen Poe’s stories are often similar because of the mood, setting, characters and the way he uses fear, symbolism, and conflicts. Edgar Allen Poe was a writer of poems and short stories. His stories were often scary and weird stories because of their dark and twisted content. Poe’s life often reflected in his stories because of his past being, not the happiest. Poe lost his mother at a young age to tuberculosis and his father left before his mother died. Poe lived with a rich foster family after that and his stepmother and he became very close, but soon his stepmother became ill with tuberculosis and died. When Poe got older he left and stayed with his aunt and cousin Virginia whom he later married. Virginia caught tuberculosis and Poe

“The Fall of the House of Usher” follows a similar symbolic storyline. Throughout the story, the narrator uncovers significant details regarding the mysterious childhood friend of his and many of the important elements are revealed. Specifically, Poe designed the plot in such a way that the Usher siblings represent two sides of the same individual; Madeline and Roderick as the body and the mind respectively (Miller par 32). Since the twins are the first in their family, it shows the separation from original unity (genetically) and foreshadows that the twins must die in order for the restoration of peace. The House of Usher also has a significant symbolic value in the story; it represents Roderick’s psychological state of mind and is described by the narrator as having disturbing realistic qualities (Poe 893). Nevertheless, toward the end of the story, the epitome of the symbolic nature of this story is revealed and is concluded by an epic turn of events. Madeline collapses on Roderick as the narrator rushes to leave the house; the siblings death at the end symbolize the destruction of the physical world as shown by Madeline and the destruction of the spiritual world as displayed by Roderick’s immediate death