Question

read \the fall of the house of usher.\ after you read, complete the think questions below. think questions 1. how much does the narrator know about his friend roderick before he arrives at the house of usher? cite evidence from the text to support your answer. 2. what details does poe give us in our first look at the house of usher? how do these details figure in the way the story plays out? cite evidence from the text to support your answer. 3. what details and events in the story seem real or plausible? at what point(s) does the writer cross the line between the explicable and the supernatural? cite at least two examples from the text in your answer. 4. using context clues, what do you think the word insufferable means? write your best definition here, and explain how you came to this understanding through surrounding details. 5. what is the meaning of the word trepidation as used in the text? write a short definition of it. then, use a dictionary to verify your understanding of this words meaning.

Explanation:

1. To answer this, one must analyze the narrator's pre - arrival descriptions and interactions with Roderick in the text. Evidence would come from direct statements or implications about their prior relationship.
2. Analyze the initial descriptions of the house in the story. These details likely set the mood and foreshadow events. Evidence is found in the physical descriptions of the house.
3. Identify realistic and supernatural elements by looking at events and details in the story. Examples from the text will show where the line is crossed.
4. Use context clues such as surrounding words, actions, and descriptions in the text to infer the meaning of "insufferable".
5. Similar to question 4, use context clues in the text to define "trepidation" and then verify with a dictionary.

Answer:

1. Answers will vary based on text analysis. For example, the narrator may mention prior correspondence or shared past experiences. Evidence could be "I had received a letter from him in a distant part of the country...".
2. Details like the "bleak walls", "vacant eye - like windows" of the house set a spooky mood and foreshadow the events. Evidence: "During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half - pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. What was it - I paused to think - what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down - but with a shudder even more thrilling than before - upon the remodelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree - stems, and the vacant and eye - like windows."
3. Realistic: The narrator's arrival and his interactions with Roderick. Supernatural: Madeline's appearance at the end after being entombed. Evidence for realistic: "I entered the house, and was led by the servant across a hall into the presence of his master." Evidence for supernatural: "There was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters - and the deep and dark tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the 'House of Usher'."
4. Based on context, "insufferable" could mean unbearable. For example, the narrator describes the gloom as "insufferable", suggesting it is too much to bear.
5. From context, "trepidation" could mean a feeling of fear or anxiety. For example, if the narrator shows signs of unease before entering the house, it implies trepidation. Verification with a dictionary would confirm this meaning.