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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator say is the cause of his initial impression and feelings as he approaches the House of Usher?
(a) The desire to do well in his new employment
(b) A combination of his trepidation about his new job and being recently widowed
(c) A combination of how the entire outside of the house and grounds appeared
(d) The knowledge that his best friend has died in that house

2. What spreads over the entire exterior of the mansion?
(a) Fungi
(b) Moss
(c) Ivy
(d) Streaks of red

3. What does the narrator say is dangerous to Usher?
(a) The outside air
(b) Trying to understand the eerie atmosphere outside
(c) Dwelling too long on Madeline
(d) Standing in the rain

4. What does the narrator say about the archway that leads into the hall?
(a) It had slimy vines hanging from it
(b) It was newly repaired
(c) There was no archway
(d) It was of Gothic architecture

5. For what had the vault beneath the narrator's apartments once been used in feudal times?
(a) Storing food
(b) Storing scrolls
(c) Torture and imprisonment
(d) A bolt hole

Short Answer Questions

1. How is Usher's skin described?

2. What does the narrator do with his horse?

3. What does the narrator say is the principal feature of the Usher mansion upon closer inspection?

4. How long does Usher want to keep Madeline's body before burial?

5. Between what two poles does Usher's actions alternate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator do in response to his feelings of unease and who joins him?

2. What is Roderick's response to Madeline falling upon him?

3. How does the narrator react to Roderick's mood after Madeline's death?

4. What does the narrator say about the decor of the house?

5. When does the narrator find he is unable to sleep and upon what does he blame that fact?

6. What seems to be happening in "real" time as the narrator reads?

7. To what does Roderick say part of his mental state can be traced?

8. How does Roderick explain his desire to delay the burial of Madeline?

9. What does the narrator notice Roderick doing as they hear a clanging sound at the same time the book mentions the same such sound?

10. How does the narrator respond to Roderick's increasing instability?

(see the answer keys)

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