A Literary Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's
             "The Fall of the House of Usher"
             And "The Masque of Red Death"
             In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allen Poe, setting and symbolism are used to effectively convey ideas, effects, and images in order to establish mood, foreshadowing and characterization.
             Poe uses the setting to create a macabre atmosphere in the reader's mind. For example, Usher's house, its windows, bricks, and dungeon are all used to make a dismal atmosphere. The "white trunks of decayed trees," the "black and lurid tarn," and the "vacant, eyelike windows" contribute to the collective atmosphere of dispair and anguish. This is done with words such as 'black', 'lurid', 'decayed', and 'vacant'. The narrator states that the Usher mansion had "an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven." Poe's meticulous choice of words creates a very effective atmosphere in the story.
             Another way Poe uses setting is to foreshadow events in the story. Roderick Usher's mansion is one example of this. There is a "barely perceptible fissure" in the masonry. It is the small crack in "The House of Usher" which the narrator defines as "both the family and the family mansion." This foreshadows an event that will ruin the house and the family. The fissure divides the house. Roderick and Madeline die, destroying the family. The narrator says there is a "wild inconsistency between [the masonry's] still perfect adaptations and the crumbling condition of the individual stones." This is also symbolic. The stones represent the Usher family, and the entire mansion is a symbol for the whole family. From a distance, no one knows that the House of Usher is in despair. The "fabric gave little token of instability"-- or rather, the mansion itself showed no outwardly visible signs of the turmoil it concealed. In addition, the story takes pla...