Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Wuppertal, course: Grundlagenseminar B: Amerikanische Literaturwissenschaft, language: English, abstract: With close reference to Edgar Allan Poes short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, the interpretation will be put forward that the tales key issue is not, as the title suggests, the collapse of the family mansion, but the fall, with its connotation of failure, of the narrators rational ability to account for his experiences at the Ushers. In order to justify this reading of the story, the narrators identity and the purpose of his stay at the House of Usher will be clarified first. It will be illustrated that rationality is the narrators key method of analysis used to analyze the observations he makes at the protagonists home. Additionally, instances of the narrators frustration to rely upon scientific knowledge will be demonstrated. After having paid attention to the growing psychological impact of the proceeding events on the narrator, the question of which message Poe wants to portray to the reader will be addressed.