The Fall of the House of Usher

Summary: The narrator, who will be dubbed Dave for simplicity's sake again, was summoned to his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, after years of not seeing each other. Roderick, as well as the rest of his family, had a long history of mental troubles. His sister and himself are the only sole survivors of the formerly prestigious house. Roderick tells Dave that he has very acute senses, meaning that he basically has super-senses. Dave is there to try and keep Roderick cheery and to not have him fall into a state of depression to the point of death.

Roderick then tells Dave days later that his sister had died, and that she needs to be put in a tomb in the basement of the house before she's buried for good. After this, Roderick's demeanor changes greatly, he becomes withdrawn into himself and he becomes extremely aggrivated. One night, a horrible storm starts and Dave cannot get himself to sleep. Roderick comes into Dave's room and throws open the window. Dave attempts to get Roderick sane and manageable by reading him The Mad Trist. As Dave reads the story, he could hear faint noises that correspong with what's happening in the story. He comes close to Roderick because he's murmuring something. Roderick says "Not hear it? -- yes, I hear it, and have heard it...I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb!...-- say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating pf the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles in the copper archway of the vault!...Is she not going to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair?...Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!"

Roderick knew that Madeline was not dead at the time, but he never bothered to tell Dave because Dave is rational and wouldn't allow her being entombed. The door to Dave's room opens and there stands Madeline, on the border of death, and blood on her clothing from her struggle to get back to her brother. Madeline comes forward and throws herself onto Roderick, both of them dying that moment. Dave runs for it, and once he is away from the house, the house breaks into pieces and falls into the ground.

Personal reaction: I love how this story ended. With the unexpected return of Madeline, her bloody clothing, the mental image of her with bloody hands, disheveled hair, and angry with a bloodlust in her eyes. Dave not knowing what the heck is going on, the correspondence with the story he read. Roderick and his family and their mental problems, these elements create such an interest into a story only a few pages long.