Q&A: when the house falls... do our spirits fall as well?
In 'The Fall of the House of Usher', the narrator finds the Usher household creepy. And rightfully so, everything about the family is gross, from the incestual family line to the grimy building. The mansion, in "crumbling condition", showing "discoloration of ages" and "minute fungi overspread the whole exterior", hints at negligence (179). The family line itself is also dying out, leaving only two heirs to the bloodline, Roderick and Madeline. With all this being said, would it be so bad to forget about their existence....? Understanding the magnitude of this family's wealth and power in the past is crucial. Although the narrator and Roderick were family friends growing up, they grew apart and Roderick hasn't made friends since, saying the narrator is "his only personal friend" (178).
The Ushers, not even integrated into society and just having all this money in the middle of nowhere, can even be considered selfish, even detrimental, to society. Why would Poe write about such a sad family and expect us to feel bad for them? To ponder our morals? In the end, Roderick and Madeline die and the mansion collapses, suggesting everyone else left in there dies as well. Additionally, it's important to note how uncomfortable the mansion makes Roderick as well. You'd think as a resident of the home, he would've adjusted long ago, but he's just as creeped out as our narrator is. Everything about the place is suffocating, even the gloomy atmosphere of it all. To add to all the irony, Madeline was basically buried alive, showing just how trapped she really felt in the house. These people's lives are clearly miserable under the house. Would freeing them from their generational pain be so bad? Even if it means killing all of them off?
Our narrator, just barely making it out of there alive himself doesn't have much of a reaction at the fall of the house of Usher:
"My brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder - there was a long tumultuous sound like the voice of a thousand waters - and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the "House of Usher" (191).
Although this reaction could simply mean our narrator is stunned, it could also suggest indifference. Our narrator cared for Roderick, but they weren't consistently good friends. In fact, even coming to visit Roderick was based on a whim. The past few days, all our narrator did was silently fear in this mansion for the sake of Roderick. So why would the narrator's reaction surprise us?
Poe, framing the story in this way, I think allows us to take a different perspective morally. The initial reaction to any death usually inflicts an automatic "No..." or negative connotation. It's sad that they're all dead... The whole family line is ruined. Roderick the dear friend and his twin sister? Gone! The house? Gone! However, in "The Fall of the House of Usher", their deaths can signify an end to a generational cycle of pain. Poe lets us look at death in a new light, possibly suggesting positive notes in death which I think adds to the overall gothic theme that needs to be considered.
Nice post! I never really thought about my emotional reaction to the death of the Usher siblings, but by reading your post I realized I also kind of felt indifferent to it like the narrator. There death seems to be less about them and more about their legacy, so it feels less like two people died and more like a dynasty ended. I like how you connect your argument back to the gothic theme, placing it in the context of a literary style to add more significance your interpretation.
ReplyDeleteI really like what you focused on for this post, and I think the physical collapsed of the house is the most important part of the story. I wonder what it all symbolizes, and I really like what you said about it. This is one of the rare instances where death can be a merciful thing, seeming as if the characters lives had somehow lost color and meaning (on par with the gothic theme you mentioned).
ReplyDeleteGreat points! I really liked your final sentence about how there might be positive notes in death. The idea seems contradictory because it is so unconventional, but I agree that it fits well into the gothic theme of fear and horror. When I read the story, I thought that it was dark, but your post made me think about how the entire tone of the story can shift based on moral perspective. Assuming that death isn't always a bad thing, Poe's story could even be considered to be optimistic in some ways since it shows how there is always an end to bad things.
ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job examining the emotional aspect of this story! Despite how flowery and dramatic Poe gets with his descriptions of tortured artistry, Gothic maladies, and wasting away, you're right that he hardly clues us into the feelings of the narrator (particularly at the end of the work). I agree that Poe might be pushing the reader to feel happy for Roderick, in a way--happy that he's been "put out of his misery," as dramatic as that sounds.
ReplyDeleteI really like the question you proposed. When I initially read this story I was so shocked by the ending that I didn't think to consider how the falling of the house made me feel. It definitely doesn't feel like much of a loss, at least given that it came with the death of two main characters and the entire setting of the story. The descriptions of the house you shared really make it hard to be very distraught when it eventually crumbles.
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