discuss the significance of narrative technique in one short story on our course reading list

Only through their actions does the narrator and the reader start to piece together what is actually occurring in the house The narrator acts as a foil to Roderick Usher The narrator is logical , and reasonable . On many occasions he stops to explain rational reasons that are the causes of the supernatural events in the house . The narrator down plays much of action in the novel . At one point Roderick points out and the mist and believes that a supernatural ' force is creating it . The narrator tries to explain it away but

saying it is caused by electrical charges . Roderick is irrational in mind and body . He does strange things and says strange things . The narrator 's logical is balanced against the craziness of Roderick

The narrator is also a foil to the reader . The narrator is too rational and too dense to figure out what is happening in the house He witnesses many things and accounts them to the reader . But he is unable to draw any non-logical conclusions . He isn 't so bright . The reader on the other hand , can look at these clues and is smart enough to figure out what is happening . Poe deliberately makes the narrator stupid and places faith in the detective skills of his audience . This particular technique has been misinterpreted by many academics . Critics believe that Poe was great at plot but not well equipped to fully flesh out characterization . In this case Poe intentionally holds by the of the narrator to make him anonymous , distant , and impartial

An impressible , tremor gradually pervaded my frame , and , at lengthy there sat upon my very heart an imbus of utterly causeless alarm (Poe 126 ) states the narrator . And so feels the reader . In The Fall of the House Usher Poe employs the narrator to...