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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 Usher say about his relationship with his sister?

2. What is the source of the lighting in the painting the narrator describes?

3. To what does the narrator compare his depression of the soul?

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

5. Instead of danger, what does Usher abhor?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the narrator and Roderick do for one last time before placing Madeline's coffin in the vault?

2. How does the narrator attempt to calm Roderick?

3. What does Roderick say drives him to despair?

4. How does the narrator throw off his sense of gloom upon approaching the house?

5. How does the narrator describe the vault where they lay Madeline's coffin?

6. What does Roderick believe he has done to Madeline?

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

8. What does Roderick say in reply to the narrator's comment about how Roderick and Madeline resemble each other?

9. What is the only instrument Roderick can tolerate hearing?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all stories.

Compare/contrast the characters of Roderick and Lady Madeline. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Be specific and give examples. Compare/contrast the characters of Roderick and the narrator. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

Essay Topic 3

Foreshadowing is used in almost all works of fiction.

What is foreshadowing? Identify three instances of foreshadowing in The Fall of the House of Usher and what they foreshadow? How does foreshadowing contribute to a story’s suspense? Are there any incidences that you thought foreshadows a future event, but it does not do so?

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