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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say Usher must not do?

2. For what place does the narrator say the atmosphere of the House of Usher has no affinity?

3. What passages in the Pomponius Mela was interesting to the Usher?

4. What is the narrator later unable to convey about the time he spent with Usher?

5. What does the narrator call his "childish experiment"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator find Roderick's mental state?

2. What does the narrator attempt to do for several days, and then what does he conclude about his attempts?

3. How does the narrator describe Roderick's appearance?

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

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

6. What is one picture Roderick painted that the narrator describes and says it is not as abstract as the others?

7. How do the men like the book the narrator reads and what surprises the narrator about Roderick's response to the book?

8. How does the narrator find Roderick in the house?

9. How does the narrator feel as he approaches the House of Usher?

10. What does the narrator do when he realizes that both twins are dead?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Poe was a literary critic as well as a writer. He claims a story must concentrate on a single effect.

What is the single effect in The Fall of the House of Usher and how is this effect evident in the characters, the setting and the symbolism?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator gives a detailed description of the House of Usher as he first encounters it. The house appears to also symbolize Roderick and Lady Madeline.

What physical descriptions of the house seem to relate to Roderick? What ones seem to relate to Lady Madeline? Use examples from The Fall of the House of Usher to support your reasoning.

Essay Topic 3

Poe includes a poem, The Haunted Palace, in the story which he later publishes separately.

Discuss the meaning the poem has to the story. Use examples from The Fall of the House of Usher to support your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

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