The Fall of the House of Usher is a really interesting story. There are so many different ways one could interpret the story, which I think adds to the story. I think it is always more fun to discuss a story when everyone has a different idea as to what happened in it, and each idea could possibly be right.
This story starts out by introducing the house of Usher as a character in itself. This is interesting because the “house” probably has a double meaning in the title. It probably represents the family and the house. By making the house not only a character, but the first character (other than the narrator) of the story it shows just how important this house was to the family. It appears as though in a way, it was the family.
I thought it was particularly strange that the narrator and Usher were good friends when they were younger, but the narrator did not know that Usher had a sister, a twin sister at that. It seems as if a close friend should know if one has a sister, especially if that sister is the same age. This makes me believe that the sister was only a ghost. There were a lot of things that went on in the house that would make one think that the narrator was creating things within his own mind that were not really happening.
It was very strange that there was a room “...carefully sheathed with copper. The door, of massive iron, had been so similarly protected.” It was almost as though the room was made to burry people alive so they could not escape. Yet somehow, Madeline was able to escape. (Maybe because she did not exist in the first place.)
I think Poe is an amazing writer, and have been a fan of his pieces since the first time I read one, but I am not going to pretend that they are not incredibly strange! Personally, I think that this strangeness is what makes them so good, because once again that is something that allows for so many different interpretations of the work.
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3 comments:
I agree that Poe incorporated the house as a character. In our other readings we saw how important the house and history was to family in the South. Poe continued with this belief. At the same time though, the House of Usher also represented the family. The way Poe described the conditions of the house (old and falling apart)was the same way that he described the twins. At the end when the twins are both dead without a doubt, the house also falls.
I also agree that it was interesting when we had all read the same piece yet when we discussed it in class, everyone had different ideas about what was going on. Poe didn't write so that the we could senselessly read his work, he leaves tiny holes here and there so that readers' imaginations and minds have to be working. Readers can each take different things that apply to them from Poe's work.
I liked how you said that there are so many different ways in which you could interupt the story. I enjoyed hearing all of the ideas that were mentioned in class. I think that the brother suffered from some sort of mental disorder and imagined everything, including his sister still being alive.
I liked how Poe made the house in the first "character" that we met, it was somewhat of a southern stereotype that the plantation houses held alot of pride in them, and also that family is very important. So by using the house as a character I felt it really showed that well. I also thought the sister was a ghost when I read this story, I mean it's just TOO wierd that she was his twin sister and he had never known about her- unless for some reason the parents wouldn't let her out of the house or something.
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