The House of Usher Quiz

What is the initial emotion that the narrator experiences upon beholding the House of Usher?

• terror

• happiness

• inquisitiveness

• gloominess

Which principal characteristic about the House of Usher does the narrator first notice?

• its excessive antiquity

• its gargantuan size

• its precariousness

• its somberness

Why does Roderick invite the narrator to visit him at the House of Usher?

• The narrator has expressed a desire to see the mansion.

• Roderick wants a second opinion on his health.

• The narrator is Roderick’s only close friend.

• Roderick thinks that the narrator is a potential suitor for his sister.

After seeing Roderick for the first time in many years, the narrator says, “It was with difficulty that I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with the companion of my early boyhood.” What does the narrator mean when he calls Roderick a “wan being” in this context?

• He means that Roderick has a joyful countenance.

• He means that Roderick is sad and morose.

• He means that Roderick is shaky and unsteady.

• He means that Roderick is pale and sickly looking.

When Roderick first talks to the narrator, he asserts that he is certain he will die. Of what does Roderick think he will perish?

• a heart attack

• extreme terror

• tuberculosis

• a nervous breakdown

From what malady does Roderick tell the narrator that his sister Madeline is suffering?

• narcolepsy

• occasional paralysis

• a weakened heart

• a nervous affliction

After Madeline’s death, Roderick makes the unusual decision to inter his sister in a basement vault rather than the family’s burial crypt. What prompts his resolution?

• Roderick is concerned that Madeline’s body will be stolen for scientific research.

• Roderick expresses an unhealthy desire to be near his sister’s corpse.

• Roderick wants to hold a formal funeral when the weather improves.

• Roderick says that his sister’s dying wish was to remain in the house.

Upon the internment of Madeline’s body in the basement vault, what does the narrator notice is strange about the corpse’s appearance?

• The body is decaying unusually quickly.

• The body is rosy and the lips are smiling.

• The body appears to have suffered physical trauma.

• The body is overly thin and the face is sunken.

Whom does Roderick suspect is on the other side of the chamber door as the narrator comes to the climax of Ethelred’s story?

• the family doctor

• Ethelred

• Madeline

• the butler

After Roderick and Madeline die, the narrator “fled aghast.” As he is leaving the mansion, what does he see?

• He sees Ethelred’s dragon circling overhead, breathing fire.

• He sees the ghost of Madeline hovering over the lake.

• He sees the peacefulness of the sun setting over the mansion.

• He sees the ruins of the house being swallowed by the lake (the “tarn”).