why The House of Usher collapses and falls to ruins into the swampy pool in front of it. Basically, Usher's mind collapses right down the middle, just where the male and female parts of the mind are seperated.Along with the swampy pool, the exterior of the house also plays a symbolic role in this story. The land around the house has a lack of colour and healthy vegetation. This can be said to represent Usher's surroundings. They are dark, plagued and hopeless. Perhaps these surroundings are the source of his depression, or perhaps only a part of it. From afar, the house seems stable. Quite in good shape in fact, but upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the house's innards are rotten. The house, along with Usher's mind, are about to crumble.Another resemblance between Roderick and his house is how the hair on his forhead seems to match the web work of eaves along the houses facade. These eaves, acting as a parasite, start from the top of the house and make there way down. In other words, this parasite, plaguing Usher's mind, started in his concious mind and worked it's way into his unconcious mind.Roderick's thin pale lips can represent the thin line of life keeping him in check. His pale and cadaverous features resemble the dark and cold look of the house. All these images show us that Usher is not long for this world.Near the end of the work, the narrator decides to tell Roderick a story to calm his soul and give him stregnth. During this time, Roderick is a nervous, paranoid wreck. He keeps saying that his sister will come back. The book read by our narrator to Roderick tells the story of a knight on his way to see a magician of some sort. In his place, he finds a dragon he must slay. Once the dragon is down, our heros prize, a wonderfull sheild, falls to the ground instead of in the heros hands. In other words, the hero was to face his fear but failed in doing so correctly. That is why his prize, perhaps Usher's sane mind, fal...
