e, “with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.”(Poe 21) The entire opening scene was gloomy as if he’d stepped into blackness. He describes the house as having “vacant eye-like windows upon a few rank sedges and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees with an utterdepression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more Alvarado, 2properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium” (Poe 21). He sees the image of the house as if it were a large a skull and we can sense fear starting to invade the narrators mind. As he encounters his friend for the first time in many years he is shocked Roderick’s appearance. He describes him as having “A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve”. (Poe 25) It was as if he was staring death in the face and he felt, “startled and even awed”(Poe 26) at the sight of Usher. Roderick Usher had a twin sister named Madeline who also resided in the mansion, although the narrator only caught glimpses of her passing through the halls he, “regarded her with utter astonishment not unmingled with dread”. From his arrival at the house to the end of the story the narrator experiences a heightening of fear towards the mansion and its occupants. Upon the receipt of Roderick’s letter the narrator is moved by the plea of his only friend. He expressed “an earnest desire to see [him], as his best and indeed his only friend”.(Poe 22) They were friends not out of the loved they shared for each other, but out of convenience. Poe writes,“Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet I really Alvarado, 3knew little of my friend.”(Poe 22) They both had no other friends to speak of and shared the characteristics of darkness and g...
