What exactly happens to Madeline after her death? Madeline appears and no longer looks sick. She attacks Roderick as the life drains from her and he dies of fear.

What does the crack symbolize in The Fall of the House of Usher? The crack represents the crack in the foundation of the Usher family, which will come when death separates the twin heirs. The crack is what splits the entire house apart after their deaths, and what brings the house crumbling down into the tarn.

Madeline is very ill; she is cataleptical and her body is wasting away. A cataleptic is a person who has seizures and can go into a death-like trance afterward. Madeline shows herself briefly in front of the narrator but doesn’t acknowledge his presence. Madeline supposedly dies and her body is entombed below ground.

In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher fears that his house is having a negative effect on his spirit and contributing to his mysterious illness. Roderick also fears for his sister, Madeline, who similarly suffers from an unusual ailment.

What picture catches the narrator’s eye? A vault, this foreshadows Madeline being locked in the vault.

The narrator decides to read to Roderick in order to pass the night away. He reads “Mad Trist” by Sir Launcelot Canning, a medieval romance. As he reads, he hears noises that correspond to the descriptions in the story. She attacks Roderick as the life drains from her, and he dies of fear.

Part A: In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” which of the following is one of Roderick Usher’s disturbing ideas? Usher believes that his house has awareness, like a living thing.