Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Fall Of The House of Usher
Poe's stories are generally told from the first person point of view. The Fall of the House of Usher is told from a narrator's perspective. The narrator is a character that we don't know much about. This lack of information makes him more relatable to the reader. It allows us to jump into his body and use our imagination to experience the story for ourselves. The narrator has not seen Roderick since his childhood but still makes the journey to see him when he senses the urgency in his letter. He recounts memories from his childhood in order to prepare himself for his reunion with his old friend but nothing can prepare him for his friend's decaying state. Since he is Roderick's only living friend, he is a reliable and believable source.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree that the narrator is a more relatable character to the reader than Roderick or Madeline. I was also able to put myself into the story as the narrator much like you described in your blog. One finds themselve siding with the narrator throughout the whole tale. All that is really shared about the two men are that they are boyhood friends and obviously had a strong bond at one point in their lives. I also agree with your last statement, "he is a reliable and believable source". The narrator came to Roderick when he was sent for and was ultimately there to help. Ironically at the end of the story the narrator fleas for his life, out of the house when the two siblings are reunited. The house then begins to crumbles forming a type of tomb for Roderick and Madiline to be together for eternity.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think the narrator is easy to relate to, I wouldn't go quite as far as to say that he is realiable. The reason I say this is that we can see the transformations and effects the house is having on him. He also references opium uses a few times, which I don't think really mean anything...but they're something to notice. The narrator even describes the negative effects the house was having on his mental wellbeing.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Poe is great at making his stories very dark and the reader can relate to that darkness very easily. In the House of Usher, Poe uses first person narration to allow the reader to use his imagination when drawing conclusions of the house and of his friend and her sister. He allows the reader to use their imagination to determin what happens in the end of most of his novels.
ReplyDelete