Fall of the House of Usher
1. Yes, I was drawn in. I think when Poe first developed and wrote the story, he designed it in a way that would inherently draw the reader into the fantasy world of Roderick Usher. Leaving the narrator unnamed and seemingly average in personality, it’s easy to identify with him, seeing ourselves in his shoes taking care of an ill friend.
2. The narrator travels to his friend because he was told that Roderick’s health was deteriorating both physically and emotionally. Sadly, the narrator ultimately fails after he realizes that there was no way to truly heal him.
3. When the narrator is in close proximity, he explains it as being a "crumbling, haunted castle”, with fungi growing within the cracks of the stones and decaying trees in the courtyard. In seeing that the house its self seems as if it’s about to crumble, we can infer that it will in the end of the story, just like the fate of the Usher family.
4. It was initially easy to differentiate the House of Usher from the rest of the world; the way the narrator describes the desolate house as “dank” “dark” and “tarn.” The House itself has a dark, gothic feel, which makes the narrator feel out of place.
Great Awakening- Puritanism had declined by the 1730s, and people were upset about the decline in religious piety. The Great Awakening was a sudden outbreak of religious fervor that swept through the colonies. It was one of the first events to unify the colonies. (John Edwards, William Whitefield, and William Tennant)
The Enlightenment- A philosophical movement which started in Europe in the 1700's and spread to the colonies. It emphasized reason and the scientific method. Writers of the enlightenment tended to focus on government, ethics, and science, rather than on imagination, emotions, or religion. Many members of the Enlightenment rejected traditional religious beliefs in favor of Deism, which holds that the world is run by natural laws without the direct intervention of God.
John Locke’s Ideas- He was a
2. The narrator travels to his friend because he was told that Roderick’s health was deteriorating both physically and emotionally. Sadly, the narrator ultimately fails after he realizes that there was no way to truly heal him.
3. When the narrator is in close proximity, he explains it as being a "crumbling, haunted castle”, with fungi growing within the cracks of the stones and decaying trees in the courtyard. In seeing that the house its self seems as if it’s about to crumble, we can infer that it will in the end of the story, just like the fate of the Usher family.
4. It was initially easy to differentiate the House of Usher from the rest of the world; the way the narrator describes the desolate house as “dank” “dark” and “tarn.” The House itself has a dark, gothic feel, which makes the narrator feel out of place.
Great Awakening- Puritanism had declined by the 1730s, and people were upset about the decline in religious piety. The Great Awakening was a sudden outbreak of religious fervor that swept through the colonies. It was one of the first events to unify the colonies. (John Edwards, William Whitefield, and William Tennant)
The Enlightenment- A philosophical movement which started in Europe in the 1700's and spread to the colonies. It emphasized reason and the scientific method. Writers of the enlightenment tended to focus on government, ethics, and science, rather than on imagination, emotions, or religion. Many members of the Enlightenment rejected traditional religious beliefs in favor of Deism, which holds that the world is run by natural laws without the direct intervention of God.
John Locke’s Ideas- He was a