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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 source of the lighting in the painting the narrator describes?

2. Of what texture is Usher's hair?

3. What does Usher try to overcome in the presence of the narrator according to the narrator?

4. What is the weather like that night?

5. What does the narrator often call Usher?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What announcement does Roderick abruptly make one evening?

4. What does Roderick say drives him to despair?

5. Who is at the door when it flies open and what does the person do?

6. Where does Roderick's genius as a painter lie?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do you think most people want a happy ending in a story? If most people want a happy ending how do you think the ending of The Fall of the House of Usher leaves the reader feeling? What do you think are three reasons to read fiction and do you think The Fall of the House of Usher fulfills these three reasons? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Trace and analyze the theme of madness or mental illness in The Fall of the House of Usher. Consider the following questions as you write: Examine which characters are sane and which do not seem sane. What are some symbols of madness? How does the madness of the characters relate to the story? How does the madness of the characters move the story along?

Trace and analyze the theme of isolation in The Fall of the House of Usher. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to have been affected by isolation? What are the reasons some of the characters are isolated? How does the theme relate to the plot? Could the plot have occurred without the isolation of some of the characters?

Essay Topic 3

Poe wrote in a different era and culture then the present. Some of the language will seem archaic to modern readers.

Do you think a story or story written so long ago is still relevant to today’s readers? What might make The Fall of the House of Usher a timeless story? Use examples from The Fall of the House of Usher to support your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

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