ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Roderick Usher is not well. While parts of his affliction seem to manifest themselves physically, in his overly-acute senses, his illness is primarily a mental one. While his sister is cataleptic and wasting away, Roderick is tormented by, to be quite honest, his own fear.

Detailed explanation-2: -Finally, usher also means doorkeeper, and as they had previously ushered Lady Madeline prematurely into her tomb, at the end of the story Lady Madeline stands outside the door waiting to be ushered in; failing that, she ushers herself in and falls upon her brother.

Detailed explanation-3: -The narrator makes a point of telling us that the term “The House of Usher” refers no only to the estate, but to the family as well, the Usher bloodline. The title refers not just to the literal fall of the physical house, but the metaphorical fall of the Usher family.

Detailed explanation-4: -Direct Characterization Poe, through his narrator, tells us straight-out that the Usher family is weird, creepy, isolated, old, wealthy, and indistinguishable from their weird, creepy, isolated, old, wealthy mansion.