Reading & Comprehension

Read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1553) & "The Man of the Crowd" (1579).

Review the Formal Elements of Literature.

Themes

NATURE VS. CULTURE, EVIL, HAUNTED HOUSES, ISOLATION, MADNESS, MYSTERY, HISTORY & MEMORY, ADAPTATION, THE UNCANNY.

Discussion Questions & Topics

Read the first sentence of the "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1553). How does Poe use diction to establish mood and atmosphere?

"Anaphora" is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of a clause or another group of words to emphasize an image or concept. Close read the fourth sentence of "The Fall" (1553). What words constitute anaphora? What is their specific effect?

Write 1-2 detailed paragraphs portraying the Usher family. (10 minutes.)

In what way does the setting of "The Fall" reflect the story’s events?

Read this definition of doppelgänger. If the setting doubles (i.e. reflects, parallels, provides another version of) both characters and events, how does the idea of the double govern "The Fall"?

Discuss Freud’s notion of Das Unheimliche (trans. The Uncanny) and close read the passage in "The Fall" on pg. 1554 describing the house. Note how Madeline is an uncanny object (as a flat, mysterious character). So is the entire story, which, in its dark ambiguity, defies narrator/reader’s attempts to come to terms with it and creates an emotional tension.

What elements does "The Fall" have in common with contemporary horror stories?

Assignments

Minitheme #2: Write a minitheme on Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and submit via WebCT. DUE DATE: Monday, Sep. 21, 9 a.m.

Discussion #3: Poe's "The Man of the Crowd" is a story about city life. What does the story say about the affects of urbanity on the human condition? Defend your answer to this question with specific details from the text. Be sure to indicate what you think the "man of the crowd" represents, recalling how, at the end the story, the narrator calls him "the type and genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. He is the man of the crowd" (1584). What does the narrator mean? 250-500 words. DUE DATE: Monday, Sep. 21, 9 a.m.