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... One in particular, The fall of the House of Usher, Poe uses a literary device called a allegory, in which a story is made up of many symbols that together amount to a main symbolic representation in the overall story. In Poe’s story, he uses such symbols as, the house of usher, the fungus and over growth, Roderick Usher’s sister, the metal shielded room he puts his sister in, along with many others, to convey the allegory that one’s life is made by his attitude towards it, which may be their own survival or their demise.
Such symbols like Roderick’s house, the dense and dead overgrowth, and the fungus, all represent approximately one thing: the frailty of the Roderick’s mind. To start with, this house, as described by Poe as having, “bleak walls…vacant eyelike windows…few rank sedges…and a few white trunks of decaying trees…” was the corruptio optimi pessima (the worst of the worst) of all structures; it had the ability to cause utter depression in one’s soul.
Approximate Word count = 882
Approximate Pages = 3.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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