Reading Comprehension Questions: The Fall of the House of Usher
What is the house like? How does the narrator describe the house and the setting? The house is described as being a dreary mansion situated on the edge of a cliff over a black lake. The house is surrounded by dead nature, such as rotting trees. It was a dull and gloomy landscape.
Who was the owner of the house? What is his relationship with the narrator of the story? The owner of the house was Mr. Roderick Usher. He and the narrator of the story had been friends during their childhood. They had not seen each other for some years and, despite having been friends, the narrator did not really know much about Mr. Roderick because he had always been very reserved.
What happened to Mr. Roderick Usher? Why did he want to see his friend? He suffered from a mental disease and believed that he would get better if his friend came to see him. Consequently, he wrote a letter to the narrator asking him to visit his house.
Why does the narrator of the story know little about Mr. Roderick? He knew little about Mr. Roderick because he had been exceedingly reserved since he was a child.
What was the Usher family famous for? What was remarkable about the patrimony of the family? The Usher family was an ancient family famous for their beautiful works of art, and they were also well known for their great acts of charity. The remarkable fact about the family was that the patrimony was handed down directly from father to son, remaining in an unbroken line of descent for centuries.
Could you describe the house? What was the house like when you observed it closely? The house was very old and discolored by time. Although no portion of the masonry had fallen, most of the stones were crumbling. If you looked closely, you could see a barely perceptible crack running in a zigzag direction from the roof down to the bottom of the house.
How is the family doctor described? The doctor of the family was described as cunning and sinister; Mr. Roderick did not trust him.
How is Roderick’s studio described? Roderick’s studio was described as very large and high. Despite containing many pieces of furniture, these were regarded as comfortless, antique, and tattered by the narrator. He also mentions that it was very gloomy and that an atmosphere of sorrow pervaded everything.
When the narrator saw Roderick, he was very shocked. Why? The narrator was deeply shocked when he saw Roderick because he had changed dramatically. He had never seen a man alter so drastically in such a short period of time. His skin was pale like that of a ghost, his eyes shone with a frightening brilliance, and his hair had grown wildly, floating about his face like that of a madman.
How did he behave? What was shocking about his behavior? His behavior was shocking because his mood rapidly shifted from being energetic to sullen. He suffered from an extreme acuteness of the senses: he could only tolerate the most insipid food, the scent of flowers was oppressive, he could only wear clothes of a specific texture, and bright light caused him severe pain.
What did Roderick think about the house? Mr. Roderick believed that the house and the dark tarn exercised an ominous influence over his existence. He was convinced that he would eventually die of fear. In his view, the mansion exerted a persistent and terrible power that shaped the destiny of his family.
What was the problem with his sister? Why was he worried? His only sister, Madeline, suffered from a gradual wasting away of her person, apathy, and frequent cataleptic attacks. He was worried because the physicians could not find a cure for her illness and because Madeline, having resisted at first, had finally succumbed to her condition.
When Madeline died, where did Mr. Roderick keep her body? Why did he keep her there instead of taking her to the family cemetery? He placed her body in a coffin inside a vault within the main walls of the building rather than taking her to the family burial ground. This decision was based on three reasons: the unusual nature of her illness, his distrust of medical researchers, and the remote location of the cemetery.
Where was the vault located? What had it been used for before? The vault was located directly beneath the narrator’s bedroom. In feudal times, it had served as a dungeon, and later it was used as a storehouse for gunpowder.
When Roderick told the narrator that he and Madeline were twins, what else did he reveal? Roderick explained that “there had always been a strange, unspoken understanding between them,” highlighting an extraordinary sympathetic connection.
What did Mr. Roderick do after his sister died? Mr. Roderick unscrewed the lid of Madeline’s coffin to look upon her face one last time before securing it, partly because her strange affliction left a faint blush upon her cheeks.
Was the narrator affected by the new behavior of his friend? In what way? Yes, around the seventh or eighth day after the entombment, the narrator began to experience the same overwhelming dread and nervous terror that tormented Usher.
What happened on the eighth night after burying Madeline? The narrator could not sleep; he felt overcome by intense horror and restlessness, amplified by the gloomy furnishings and the stormy weather outside.
What were the noises that they heard? Who was moving the coffin? They heard muffled, dreadful noises: the sound of cracking wood, a harsh grating screech, and finally a distinct metallic reverberation echoing from the depths of the mansion.
When the door opened, who was standing outside? Outside the door stood Madeline, enshrouded in blood-stained grave garments, having escaped from her premature tomb.
What did she do before dying? How did Roderick die? Madeline fell violently upon her brother in her final death agony, dragging him to the floor. Roderick died instantly, a terrified victim of the pure dread and panic he had long anticipated.
What was the flash of light that the narrator saw after leaving the mansion? The flash was the blood-red moon shining through the widening fissure in the house amidst the violent storm.
What happened to the house at the end of the story? The house collapsed entirely as the fissure broke open violently, causing the ancient walls to crumble and sink into the dark waters of the tarn.
To walk back and forth: caminar de un lado a otro.
Whirlwind: torbellino.
Shield: escudo.
Shriek: grito, alarido, chillido.
Relief: alivio.
To hand down: transmitir, legar de generación en generación.
To pervade: impregnar, dominar, extenderse por.
To approach: aproximarse, acercarse.
To wander: deambular, vagar.
To stare: mirar fijamente.
To start: sobresaltarse, comenzar.
To glimpse: alcanzar a ver, atisbar, vislumbrar.
To struggle: forcejear, luchar.
To dare: atreverse a, osar.
To shake: sacudir, agitar, estremecer.
Key Literary Themes
Mortality: The characters are constantly haunted by death. Premature burial was an obsessive theme for Edgar Allan Poe; in this tale, the boundary separating life from death is exceptionally narrow and fragile.
Madness: The distinction between sanity and insanity progressively dissolves throughout the narrative as Roderick deteriorates mentally and drags the narrator into his delirium.
Fear: What terrifies Usher most is terror itself. He explicitly predicts that he will perish from absolute fright.
Incestuous Undertones: The intense, isolated, and symbiotic bond between the twin siblings suggests an incestuous element within the dying lineage.
Friendship: Roderick urgently relies upon the company of the narrator, who serves as his last grounding link to the outside world.
Burial and Entombed Spaces: Pervasive motifs of tombs, coffins, crypts, and vaults dominate the work. Usher’s own eerie paintings deliberately foreshadow an underground tomb.
The Arts: Roderick finds temporary solace in music, poetry, and morbid painting, reflecting his heightened, distorted aesthetic sensibilities.
