In the brief story, “The Fall of the Residence of Usher,” by Edgar Allen Poe, setting is utilised extensively to do lots of items. The author makes use of it to convey concepts, effects, and images. It establishes a mood and foreshadows future events. Poe communicates truths about the character via setting. Symbols are also employed throughout to help have an understanding of the theme by means of the setting.
Poe utilizes the setting to make an atmosphere in the reader’s mind. He chose just about every word in just about every sentence carefully to build a gloomy mood. For example, Usher’s home, its windows, bricks, and dungeon are all used to make a dismal atmosphere. The “white trunks of decayed trees,” the “black and lurid tarn,” and the “vacant, eyelike windows” contribute to the collective atmosphere of dispair and anguish. This is carried out with the words black, lurid, decayed, and vacant. The narrator says that the Usher mansion had “an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven.” It was no where close to being wonderful, holy, or clean. He makes use of descriptive words such as decayed, strange, peculiar, gray, mystic, Gothic, pestilent, dull and sluggish to create the atmosphere. Poe’s meticulous choice of words creates a extremely powerful atmosphere in the story.