The Fall of the House of Usher Plot – Flashcards
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Author
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Edgar Allen Poe
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Setting
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Autumn
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What were 3 characteristics of the house?
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1. Bleak walls 2. Vacant windows 3. Decayed trees
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What impression did the house give?
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Insufferable gloom; Sinking of the heart
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What does the author say about ordinary objects?
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Natural objects may cause fear
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Who was the narrator visiting?
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Roderick Usher
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How did the narrator know Roderick Usher?
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They were companions in boyhood
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Why was the narrator going to Usher's house?
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Usher sent him a letter
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What was enclosed in the letter?
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Usher spoke of a nervous agitation, a mental illness, that oppressed him and his desire to see his only friend
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What was Usher's family drawn to?
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Musical science
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What was peculiar about the descent of Ushers?
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They were in a direct line of descent; Incest
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What was the condition of the house?
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It still had a perfect adaptation of parts but each individual stone was crumbling
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What was the most prominent feature of the exterior of the house?
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A zig-zag crack extending from the roof all the way down the front of the house disappearing into the lake
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What was a characteristic of the windows?
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They were inaccessible from within
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How did the author feel upon entering the house?
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Gloomy and sorrowful
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How did Usher greet the narrator?
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With sincere warmth
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What were Roderick Ushers physical characteristics?
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-Ghostly pale complexion -One eye significantly larger than the other -Thin Lips -Defined chin -Web-y crazy hair
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What was the narrator's reaction to his reunion with Usher?
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He was startled and awed by how much he his appearance had changed
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How did Usher's presence influence the narrator?
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The narrator began to feel incoherent and inconsistent; He too felt a nervous agitation
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What was wrong with Usher?
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He suffered from acuteness of the senses
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What does Usher say will kill him?
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Fear
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What does Usher feel?
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He is superstitious of his house and feels like an unnatural force is keeping him there
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What natural reason did Usher give for his gloomy behavior?
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The nearing death of his sister (His last relative last on Earth)
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What was Usher's sister's name?
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Madeline
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What was wrong with Madeline?
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Doctors could not diagnose her; Her body was wasting away slowly
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What happened to Madeline when the narrator arrived?
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She got severely worse
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How does the narrator treat Usher?
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He tries to cheer him up but realizes that it may not be possible
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What does Usher paint?
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A tunnel/vault below the surface of the ground with no escape
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What opinion is stated?
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Every object can think/perceive things
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After Madeline dies, what did Usher plan to do?
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Preserve her body in a vault for a fort night
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Why did Usher want to preserve Madeline's corpse?
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So that the doctors didn't take it and use it for studies
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What did the narrator think of preserving the corpse?
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He felt bad for Usher and personally aided him
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Where was the vault?
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In the house, directly below the narrator's room
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What protected the tomb?
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A door sheathed in copper and iron which made an unusually sharp grating sound as it moved along its hinges
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Usher and Madeline were not only siblings but?
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Twins
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What was Madeline's appearance before they screwed on the coffin's lid?
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She had a faint blush and a lingering smile
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How does Usher react to Madeline's death?
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His symptoms and gloom gets worse
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How does the narrator react to Madeline's death?
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He feels like he is beginning to be influenced by Usher's behavior because he has spent so much time with him
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What does the narrator do to try to soothe Usher?
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Read him his favorite story, "Mad Trist"
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What happens in the story?
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A hero, Ethelred, tried to enter into the dwelling of a hermit by force
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What did he hear as he finished a sentence?
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The very echo and cracking of Ethelred trying to break in by force
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What did Ethelred encounter?
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A ferocious dragon
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What does Usher realize?
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They put Madeline living in the tomb
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What did the narrator due after Usher's realization?
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Fled the house
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What does the narrator witness as he flees?
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He sees the fissure rapidly widen, the walls collapse, the house disappear into the lake, and the lake close up
