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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. Which work of Swedenborg's does the narrator mention?

2. What is the "grim phantasm"?

3. How does Usher die?

4. What does Usher hope to gain from the narrator?

5. How does the narrator respond to Usher coming into the narrator's apartment?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does the narrator say about his friendship with Roderick Usher?

3. With what is the narrator impressed concerning Roderick?

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

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

6. What does the narrator regularly observe Roderick doing after Madeline's death?

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

8. What is Roderick's response to Madeline falling upon him?

9. What does the narrator do before actually going inside the House of Usher?

10. What does the narrator discover when he gets up and bends his ear close to Roderick's mouth?

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

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 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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