Imagination And Imagination

842 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How literature creates imagination

Our minds as humans are very complex. Our brains are unique and have functions like helping us create memories and use our imaginations. Our imagination allows us to think of alternative endings for situations ultimately making them better or worse. When we expand our thoughts we sometimes change situations to the point where our mind overexaggerates what we were imagining. In some instances our imagination can stretch situations to the point where they become unrealistic. Imagination has the ability to overcome reason, as it can enlarge little fears or cause new ones. Our brains like to imagine alternate endings to situations. When our imagination sees something that is real become unbelievable is one example where imagination can overpower …show more content…

Another instance in which imagination overcomes reason in “ The Fall of the House of Usher “ is when Usher buries his sister. “ … I put her in a living tomb! ” , (Poe 29). Usher’s sister being alive is one of the main reasons he has the will to live. The reason behind him burying his sister is that he is sick in the head. As a reader our minds do not see this reason because our imagination distracts us from it. Instead of paying attention to why he buried her the reader is picturing Usher burying her alive for no reason. Your imagination likes to twist situation when fear occurs. There are infographics in “ How to Tell You’re Reading a Gothic Novel”, by Adam Frost and Zhenia Vasiliev that tell us how certain things said in the story that are suppose to surprise the reader making them fear the story. The examples shown tell us what we are suppose to fear most in a story. Setting and how characters act in a story are the reason why imagination can overcome reason. For setting, a lot of gothic novels are set in the olden days to give the story a creepy vibe. The way characters act in a story can also scare or confuse the reader. Gothic novels use the olden day setting because it can set the tone for a scary story, which the reader’s imagination uses to make their own scary assumptions. This happens in “The Fall of the House of Usher”, when the narrator describes everything around him as lifeless. …show more content…

Imagination can take over reason depending on how events are portrayed in a story. In “House Taken Over”, the narrator is hearing strange noises and sounds on one side of the house. He assumes that they are invaders right away and instead of checking what is making the noise he blocks himself off from that side of the house. The noise could have anything, but he lets his imagination get to him and stays away from the other side of the house. The sounds do not stop and seem to be getting closer to the uninvaded side. “We stood listening to the noises, growing more and more sure they were on our side of the oak door” (Cortazar 41). After this happens Irene realizes that whatever took over the blocked off side has made it through and will not go away. Quickly her and the narrator run out of the house lock the door and throw the key away, never planning on returning to the now haunted house. He and his sister fear what is in the house and imagine what it would have done to them if they stayed any

Show More
Related

  • How Does Poe Create Suspense In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe created a feeling of loneliness, oppression, and Fear using Gothic elements , symbolism, and suspense. Poe literature uses a writing style that generally contains suspense, symbolism, and gothic literature in order convey the very real idea that not all stories have a happy

    Read More

  • Theme Of Transformation In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    When writing a story that is meant to scare the reader, authors use a variety of different literary elements to intensify fear. This is apparent in the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “beware: do not read this poem,” and “House Taken Over”. It is shown through transformation in the character, setting, and sometimes even the story or poem itself, adding to the scariness that the reader feels when reading it. While there are some examples of transformation not being scary or not playing a role in stories meant to scare us, transformation plays a crucial role in making the reader of these stories scared.

    Read More

  • Comparing Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher and Taylor’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic texts are typically characterized by a horrifying and haunting mood, in a world of isolation and despair. Most stories also include some type of supernatural events and/or superstitious aspects. Specifically, vampires, villains, heroes and heroines, and mysterious architecture are standard in a gothic text. Depending upon the author, a gothic text can also take on violent and grotesque attributes. As an overall outlook, “gothic literature is an outlet for the ancient fears of humanity in an age of reason” (Sacred-Texts). Following closely to this type of literature, Edgar Allan Poe uses a gloomy setting, isolation, and supernatural occurrences throughout “The Fall of the House of Usher”.

    Read More

  • Romanticisam And Washington Irving

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    The supernatural, the emphasis of nature, and exotic locations were used in Edgar Allan Poe's works. Poe's story "The Fall of the House of Usher" involved the work of the supernatural. Usher was saddened by the loss of his sister to an illness. Strange things begin to happen as the narrator arrives: the outside is filled a strange, ghastly glow and the house seems to come alive. Near the end of the story is when the strangest supernatural thing occurs. The figure of Usher's sister flows through the hallway, takes Usher's life, and destroys the house. The same story has an emphasis of nature in relation to Usher's family. Over the years, the house had become cluttered with plants and fungi.

    Read More

  • Gothic Elements

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    To set the tone in the story the author had to describe the surroundings of the characters. For example the author states, "with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." when giving a detailed response of how he feels about the house. This helps show that the author himself feels depressed when in sight of the building and gives the reader a thought of how the house looks. Other textual evidence in the passage also shows a feeling of suspense like the quote, "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. " which is how the author feels when he thinks about the house. The author cannot bear to imagine the house because he has a dark and negative imagination with different fears he thinks can come to life because of how unsettling the house makes him feel. While suspense is a direct indication of a depressed and dark tone, some other Gothic elements can be used indirectly to describe negative values in the story.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Fall Of The House Of Usher And The House Taken Over

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    described it less violently than Poe."The Fall of the House of Usher" shows Poe's ability to create an emotional tone in his work, specifically feelings of fear, doom, and guilt These emotions center on Roderick Usher, who, like many Poe characters, suffers from an unnamed disease. Like the narrator in “The Tall Tale Heart, his disease inflames his hyperactive senses. The illness manifests physically but is based in Roderick's mental or even moral state. He is sick, it is suggested, because he expects to be sick based on his family's history of illness and is, therefore, essentially a hypochromic. Then in the other story the author explains differently

    Read More

  • Symbolism and analysis of "The Fall of the House of Usher"

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of American Literature's legendary and prolific writers, and it is normal to say that his works touched on many aspects of the human psyche and personality. While he was no psychologist, he wrote about things that could evoke the reasons behind every person's character, whether flawed or not. Some would say his works are of the horror genre, succeeding in frightening his audience into trying to finish reading the book in one sitting, but making them think beyond the story and analyze it through imagery. The "Fall of the House of Usher" is one such tale that uses such frightening imagery that one can only sigh in relief that it is just a work of fiction. However, based on the biography of Poe, events that surrounded his life while he was working on his tales were enough to show the emotions he undoubtedly was experiencing during that time.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Imagination In 'Fall Of House Of Usher'

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you been through times when you could not go to sleep because of the horror movies that you have watched that day?.Why do we start to get scared  after watching something that we know is fictional?.Why we don't think logically?. That's when Imagination takes over.An action of forming new ideas,images,or concepts of external objects that aren't  present to the senses is known as imagination.According to the article “importance of imagination” written Tao de haas highlights how good imagination is for life. According to the author tao de haas, imagination is important and good because it ignites passion,stimulates creativity and innovation, but when imagination takes over reasoning(thinking something in a logical way)  it becomes frantic.

    Read More

  • Poe's Fall of The House of Usher Essays: Suspense

    418 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "The Fall of the house of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe creates suspense and fear in the reader. He also tries to convince the reader not to let fear overcome him. Poe tries to evoke suspence in the reader's mind by using several diffenent scenes. These elements include setting, characters, plot, and theme.  Poe uses setting primarily in this work to create atmosphere. The crack in the house and the dead trees imply that the house and its surroundings are not sturdy or promising. These elements indicate that a positive outcome is not expected. The thunder, strange light, and mist create a spooky feeling for the reader. The use of character provides action and suspense in the story through the characters' dialogue and actions. Roderick, who is hypochondriac, is very depressed. He has a fearful apperance and his senses are acute. This adds curiosity and anxiety. The narrator was fairly normal until he began to imagine things and become afraid himself. Because of this, the audience gets a sense that evil is lurking. Madeline is in a cataleptic state. She appears to be very weak and pail. Finally, when she dies, she is buried in a vault inside of the mansion. In this story, the plot consists of rising events, conflict, climax, and resolution. The rising events include the parts in the story when the narrator first arrives at the house, meets Roderick, and hears about Roderick's and Madeline's problems. Madeline's death and burial are part of the conflict. At this point, Roderick and the narrator begin to hear sounds throughout the house. The sounds are an omen that an evil action is about to occur. The climax is reached when Madeline comes back from the dead and she and her twin brother both die. Finally, the resolution comes when the narrator escapes from the house and turns around to watch it fall to the ground. The theme that Edgar Allen Poe is trying to convey is do not let fear take over your life because it could eventually destory you.

    Read More

  • Gothicism In Frankenstein

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    The term ‘Gothic’ is highly amorphous and open to diverse interpretations; it is suggestive of an uncanny atmosphere of wilderness gloom and horror based on the supernatural. The weird and eerie atmosphere of the Gothic fiction was derived from the Gothic architecture: castles, cathedrals, forts and monasteries with labyrinths of dark corridors, cellars and tunnels which evoked the feelings of horror, wildness, suspense and gloom.

    Read More

  • The House Of Usher Response

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.

    Read More

  • The Depiction of Fear in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

    2174 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion Poe excellent use of characterization and imagery to depict fear and darkness, truly make The Fall of the House of Usher a story of the battles the we must face our fears in order to free our mind.

    Read More

  • Horror Films: Things That Go Bump in the Night

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    We have all had a special interest in horror as long as we can remember. Whether our outlet is through fables, movies, or even figments of our imaginations we all find reason to fear something. (ScienceDaily). The issue is when we begin reaching out to these outlets and pursuing them, putting ourselves in the environment of fear to feel the exhilaration of being frightened but the question is why? Many scientists have given their own explanation to this question but they all differ and there is no solid reasoning.

    Read More

  • Double Meaning in The Fall Of The House Of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

    1545 Words  | 4 Pages

    If there is one thing that is widely agreed upon in regards to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” it is surely the fact that the short story is one of the greatest ever written. The very words that Poe selects and the manner in which he pieced them was nothing short of phenomenal. This however, is pretty much all that people are able to agree upon. Indeed, to almost everyone who reads it sees the story as great, but for different reasons. In a way the tale can be compared to a psychiatrist’s inkblots. While everyone may be looking at the same picture, they all see different things. What mainly gives “The Fall of the House of Usher” this quality is the double meanings and symbols Poe seems to use throughout.

    Read More

  • Imagination

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    The human imagination is a very powerful thing. It sets humanity apart from the rest of the creatures that roam the planet by giving them the ability to make creative choices. The imaginary world is unavoidably intertwined with the real world and there are many ways by which to illustrate this through literature, either realistically or exaggerated. Almost everything people surround themselves with is based on the unreal. Everything from the food we eat to the books we read had to have been thought of by someone and their imagination. The imagination empowers humans.^1 It allows people to speculate or to see into the future. It allows artists to create, inventors to invent, and even scientists and mathematicians to solve problems. J.R. Tolken wrote “Lord of the Rings” by sitting in his backyard and imagining everything coming to life.^2 He thought about all the “what if” possibilities. But this method of storytelling can be used in much more subtle and/or sophisticated ways than in science fiction or fantasy novels. Through such works as the short story Dreams and the novel “Headhunter” by Timothy Findley, the film “the Matrix”, and the short story the Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, one can see how a writer can use the concept of the imaginary invading reality to write their story.

    Read More

More about Imagination And Imagination

Open Document