Post 7

The Theme of 'The Fall of the House of Usher'

The Fall of the House of Usher” is the story of a sick man whose fears manifest themselves through his supernatural, sentient family home. (Sentient as in able to perceive things.) The story seeks through both physical and noetic (mental) illness, and the effect that such afflictions have on the people most proximate to those who are ill. One interpretation is that much of the seeming “madness” of the main character does turn out, in fact, to be the cause of authentically supernatural events. That is, he’s not insane – his house genuinely is preyed upon, and his sister authentically is back from her 'grave'. Another interpretation is that the madness authentically is a part of his imagination.