Symbols of the Sentient House of Usher: An Ecocritic Approach

Abstract

This analysis is an attempt to examine usage of symbols in the ‘sentient’ house of Usher, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The short narrative is commonly renowned to as The Fall of the House of Usher. The paper has been premised on an ecocritic approach. Ecocriticism is a study that uses an interdisciplinary lens in its view on literature and environment. Mainly it concentrates on the relationship betwixt literary work and the surrounding, emphasizing on a habit of scrutiny that is vigilant to environmental issues. The main objective of such a reading is to highlight more ways of curbing environmental exploitation, minimizing or eliminating environmental violence, as well as end ecocide. This work evaluated Poes’ work and explored how symbolism has depicted nature and environmental concerns in his work. The analysis was guided by some of the major tenets of ecocriticism theory and hence, has been anchored on an ecocritic approach. Some of the tenets that guided it are death, tradition, and environmental rights. Symbolism is a technique of constructing literary and artistic work that is depicted through employment of symbols either because of interest in the craft and furnishing the piece work with an appealing literary fragrance or for whatsoever reason, such as portray environment. One of the main functions of symbolism in literary work is to censure society obscurely, securely, and devoid of any possible harm or victimization that may fall upon the author.