5 The Fall of the House of Usher BEFORE READING Story 1 Strange, distressing houses often shape the destiny of their inhabitants in literature, especially in gothic stories. Can you match these books and stories with their authors? a. The Castle of Otranto b. Wuthering Heights c. The House of the Seven Gables d. The Strange High House in the Mist e. Rebecca 1. H.P. Lovecraft 2. Nathaniel Hawthorne 3. Daphne du Maurier 4. Emily Bront 5. Horace Walpole 2 Write the following nouns beside the adjectives you think they can be matched with in the story. clouds day house illness sensation stone vapor windows melancholy .......................................... icy .......................................... dull eye-like .......................................... oppressive .......................................... crumbling .......................................... mystic debilitating .......................................... .......................................... .......................................... 3 The narrator has been invited to visit his old acquaintance for a particular reason. What do you think it is? Underline the answer/ answers you think is/are correct. Usher wanted to sell one of his valuable, mysterious paintings He had lost all his money and was in desperate need of financial help He needed the company of his old friend due to his mental illness His strange sister had died and he had been left alone Something devastating had happened in the house but the narrator did not know what it was before he arrived The house was in need of repair and Usher was too ill to do so on his own The narrator was the only friend Usher had left in the world and he wanted to see him He wanted to write his will and he needed a witness Usher believed that his house was cursed and haunted by a ghost. 68