The Fall of the House of Usher

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Poe’s stories are often unclear about whether the mysterious occurrences are natural or supernatural.

• Are the events of the story mostly natural, a delusion, supernatural, or a mix of these? (topic sentence)
• Identify three representative events, descriptions, or ideas in the story that relate to your topic sentence on Supernatural Versus Rational Explanations. Discuss how each one might be explained as either natural or supernatural.
• In conclusion, what is the likeliest explanation for the mysterious happenings in the story?

2. Part of Poe’s style involves the creative use of syntax.

• How does the author use words and sentences to create a mood of melancholy, confusion, or fear? (topic sentence)
• Select three descriptive passages to analyze, including the beginning and ending passages and an additional example from the middle of the story.

Discuss the words, details, and sentences that create a particular mood for that passage.

• In conclusion, summarize the ways in which Poe’s use of language makes him an enduring writer.

3. The author never provides the narrator’s name or background, except for the fact that he knew Roderick when they were children. As a result, the reader knows little about the narrator’s history or personality.

• Is the narrator someone who can be trusted to give an accurate account of events (reliable versus unreliable narrator)? (topic sentence)
• Find three examples or passages that might indicate the narrator is either reliable or unreliable. Explain how the narrator might be confused, mistaken, or have delusions himself.
• In conclusion, summarize the extent to which the Narrative Reliability impacts the reading experience.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. How does the condition of the Usher house represent the moral decay of the Usher family? Is it merely symbolic, or is Roderick right when he attributes a sentient evil to the house?

2. Trace the ways in which the author uses weather, landscape, and architecture to enhance the mood of various scenes. How do those features represent the Gothic genre?