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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. Into whose dwelling is the hero of Trist trying to enter?

2. What is the "grim phantasm"?

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

4. What is the "Ververt et Chartreuse"?

5. How does the narrator describe the House of Usher?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the door into the vault where they lay Madeline's coffin?

2. What does Roderick seem to vacillate between?

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

4. Why does the narrator think the house and the family are both called "The House of Usher"?

5. What does the narrator say about Roderick's face?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and discuss what you think are the characteristics of a successful story and why The Fall of the House of Usher is or is not a successful story based on your criteria. Do you think the criteria for a successful story should be different if it is written for adults versus young adults?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Often, authors will write about what they know, and sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the story more interesting.

Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Edgar Allan Poe. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her stories? Why or why not? Give examples. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Poe's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the story and discuss Poe's probable agenda concerning that idea.

(see the answer keys)

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