Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher contains many themes, including morality, madness, fear, balance (two parts making a whole), friendship, the arts (music, literature, painting) as healers, etc. Which of these themes did you find most interesting? Why? What does Poe seem to be saying about this topic? Explain. (The deadline to post a response to this questio is midnight Saturday, October 22, 2011.)
3 comments:
The theme of fear intrigued me the most in "The Fall of the House of Usher". Poe demonstrates that fear can be more debilitating than any illness. For example, Roderick Usher is obsessed with his fear. He cannot bring himself to remove his still living sister from her casket and, when his sister finally breaks free of the casket, he finally dies of fright.
I found the theme of balance to be most interesting. I like it how usher could not live without his sister. When Roderick's sister dies Roderick dies as well because one could not live without the other. It shows how strong their relationship was, but how weak the entire family was. Poe probably had a very good relationship with his sister and was devestated when she died.
Madness was most interesting to me. It was mad that Roderick and Madeline were so interconnected and how each of them were falling apart like the house. Poe seems to be saying that madness can drive a person to crazy things and that it can be caused by being connected to people. Roderick did nothing to save his sister and he clearly heard her trying to get out of her coffin. Poe was connected to many women and many of them died from tuberculosis; he was distraught about there deaths and might have been going mad himself since so many did die.
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