View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Instead of danger, what does Usher abhor?

2. What color does the narrator say are the floors in the house of Usher?

3. How does the narrator know Usher is not asleep?

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

5. What is the creature guarding?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Roderick say drives him to despair?

2. Why is the narrator unable to shake off his feelings of uneasiness the night of the storm?

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

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

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

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

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

8. What type of struggle is going on within Roderick?

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

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

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

The Fall of the House of Usher belongs to the gothic horror genre.

Define the literary term "genre" and name three other genres in addition to the gothic horror genre. What are the advantages and disadvantages of assigning a genre to a story? What do you think is the difference between a gothic horror and a historical story or mystery?

Essay Topic 3

Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in The Fall of the House of Usher. Trace and analyze one major theme of The Fall of the House of Usher. How is the theme represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 650 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample