My Haunted House

 

 



Edgar Allen Poe was an American literary genius. He was able to create a new concept that now is widely used to entertain millions of people across the world. In case you have not guessed already this is the concept of a Haunted House.

 

Poe was able to describe a house in such a way that it almost seemed that the house itself was alive, and the topic of discussion. His description of the house as being in good shape, but each individual brick appears to be in a state of decay makes one come to the conclusion that the house itself is in a slow painful death.

 

Another thing Poe was able to capitalize on was the strange incestuous relationship between Roderick Usher and his sister. It makes you kind of cringe at just the thought of it, but this also helps you picture how decrepit they most be after generations of inbreeding. Maybe this story was based off of Poe's trip to Alabama.

 

Poe also was able to use the meeting up of old friends very well. The fact that these two used to be friends, and now all of a sudden choose to meet up, makes one think, why now? This causes one to immediately suspect that this isn't just an ordinary meeting.

 

Another thing Poe does is that he creates an almost "psychopathic" in nature character.( I don't like labeling people) When you put this together with the Strange house and wife, and this causes the mystery to deepen further.

 

Last but not least Poe has created a decrepit character(Usher) who has a strange sickness which makes the narrator feel pity for him. This strange illness is never highlighted on, but obviously has taken its toll on Usher who now looks practically dead already.

 

Poe did a great job, but I would definitely change a few things. Such as I would've had more characters in the house just to add more characters. I would also of maybe gone into more detail into the backstory of the Usher family, and the house and if there were any strange happenings that did take place before.