The Fall of the House of Usher Guided Reading Sheet s1

“The Fall of the House of Usher” Guided Reading Sheet

1. Analyze the images and figurative language in the first few paragraphs. What type of mood or atmosphere does Pie evoke? Give three specific examples.

2. How does the narrator feel upon approaching the house of Usher?

3. What does Poe tell us about the line of Ushers? Why might this detail be important? Why does Poe directly link the family name and the house?

4. What details does Poe give us about the appearance of the house that seems particularly gothic?

5. How is Roderick Usher physically similar to his house?

6. What contradictions occur in Roderick’s behavior? What accounts for these inconsistencies? What is Usher’s biggest fear?

7. What reasons does Usher give for his nervous condition? How does the appearance of Lady Madeline affect the atmosphere of the story? 8. What does Usher’s reading, music, and painting reveal about him?

9. How might Usher’s song be symbolic?

10. Why does Usher decide to inter his sister’s body within the house? What might this foreshadow?

11. What details about Madeline’s corpse might be important?

12. How does Roderick change after his sister’s death? Why has this happened? What does his change suggest about their relationship?

13. What details of the setting increase the narrator’s nighttime fears?

14. What might the strange whirlwind symbolize? What type of mood does it create?

15. Was Madeline’s premature burial done purposefully? Or not?

16. How does what happens to the House of Usher reflect what has happened to the family of Usher?

17. What elements of Gothicism are present in the story?