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Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most famous American authors, but many of his works are not explicitly about the American experience. His "gothic" fiction is filled with suspense, the macabre, the grotesque, and the dark side of human nature. However, a deeper analysis of Poe's works can reveal parallels between his fiction and the American experience. One of Poe's works that can particularly symbolize and exemplify the American experience is his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." While Poe may not have intended the symbolism and motifs in "The Fall of the House of Usher" to represent the American experience, there are several elements in the story that show that the author was at least on some level aware of the connection. In several ways, Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a parable of the American experience because the author illustrates the illusory glory of paternity, the myth of material success, and the presence of incriminating dark secrets.
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The "House of Usher" not only refers to the physical mansion but to the patrilineal line that ends with Roderick. Poe's childhood friend, with whom he was not particularly close, has descended into madness for many reasons. One of these is his acute disturbance and disappointment with his inability to carry on his father's name. The "fall" of the House of Usher refers not only to the destruction of the house at the finish of the tale but also to the termination of the official family name. Roderick's keen sense of responsibility stems from the intense pressure placed upon his by his father and the rest of his family. This is not unique to the American experience, but during the time "The Fall of the House of Usher" was written, paternity and patrilineality were far more important to American culture than they are today. Thus, the story symbolizes the illusory, dysfunctional nature of traditional…
Edgar Allen Poe's 1843 short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is about a young man who becomes mortally obsessed with an old man's creepy eye and ultimately kills him. Thomas Hardy's 1902 poem "The Man He Killed" is about a soldier who has become used to killing people just because they are on the other side of the war. Both of these narratives lend insight into guilt related to death, told
..it is sadomasochism made acceptable to a mass readership by the elimination of any ostensible sexual element. Imbedded in the tale is the psychological journey of an egocentric who derives pleasure from cruelty."(Pritchard, 148) While this explanation stands, it must be observed that Poe's intention went beyond the psychological investigation: his description of evil doing is almost always accompanied by a certain symbolism that alludes to the intrusion of the
The Raven Poe's famous poem, "The Raven," to most readers is a straightforward yet haunting, chilling tale of the loss of someone loved, and the troubling emotions and inner sensations that go along with a loss, no matter how the loss occurred. In this case, the "rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore..." is the one lost. Why did an angel name Lenore, one has to wonder? Is there
Such evidence as there is can be taken up at a later time. But of one thing we can be sure. If Virginia was the prototype of Eleonora she was not the model for Morella or Berenice or Ligeia."(Quinn, 255) These feelings can also be inferred from Poe's letters to Mrs. Clemm, Virginia's mother: I am blinded with tears while writing this letter-- I have no wish to live another hour.
Poe refers to an ebony clock throughout the writing, Butler, uses a tree in the back yard, as well as the corner of the footboard that he is able to see from the cage. Poe uses terminology that is more complicated in his writing and gives the reader a more formal feel to his overall writing. Butler on the other hand uses basic terminology, as has a relaxed atmosphere about
Through this perspective, it would seem that Poe attempts to identify an affinity with the reader and uses foreshadowing to strongly caste the reader into the "know," rather than keep us in the dark of the hoax. The ape in this case is a classic symbol used by Poe to show us as the ultimate "dupes." He uses them to develop the idea of the narrator as simple minded