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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 is the narrator doing at the opening of the story?

2. What does the narrator say about Usher after they had placed Madeline's coffin in the vault below the narrator's apartments?

3. What does the narrator say he could not remake into something better?

4. How does the narrator feel when he gained his first glimpse of the House of Usher?

5. How many enduring branches can be found on the Usher family tree?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does the narrator attempt to calm Roderick?

4. Who does the narrator meet on the stairs and what is the narrator's impression of the person?

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

6. What does the narrator say about African Satyrs and Aepipans?

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

8. What does the narrator think of Roderick's ostensible reason for delaying Madeline's burial?

9. What had Roderick's sister, up to the narrator's arrive, resisted, but how does that change after the narrator arrives at the house of Usher?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in The Fall of the House of Usher. Are these universal symbols that would have the same meaning in any culture? What other symbols could portray the same idea? Why do you think Poe chooses the symbols he does? Consider symbols such as the physical house itself, the mausoleum, the vegetation and even the décor of the house.

Essay Topic 2

Oftentimes, a story has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and oftentimes the other way. Some stories seem to balance the two.

What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven or action driven? Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why? Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character are developed to the same degree? Why or why not? What type of plot do you think The Fall of the House of Usher is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

The narrator approaches the House of Usher with great trepidation when he sees the disrepair. He is telling the story of visiting a friend.

It might occur to the reader that the main character is the narrator but the story gives very little information about him. Discuss how it affects the story not knowing much about the narrator. Use examples from The Fall of the House of Usher to support your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

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