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Abby Wright

Nabakowski

English 10 Pre-AP

September 16, 2021

Compare and Contrast Essay

Gothic literature is a style of writing that gained popularity throughout the 1800s and into

the early 1900s. Some of the famous gothic authors at that time were Edgar Allen Poe, Mary

Shelly, H.P. Lovecraft, and Bram Stoker. Two of the more famous works of gothic literature, The

Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allen Poe) and House Taken Over (Julio Cortázar) are alike

and different in many ways. The Fall of the House of Usher and House Taken Over have similar

settings and characters but have different outcomes/endings.

The settings in both The Fall of the House of Usher and House Taken Over are very simi-

lar. In the former, the house is described as very old and very large. “I looked upon the scene be-

fore me - upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain - upon the bleak

walls - upon the vacant eyelike windows - upon a few rank sedges - and upon a few white trunks

of decayed trees,” (Poe, 1). The house gives the narrator a creepy sort of feeling, as it looks

gloomy and mysterious. The interior of the house is similar as it is described as, “…general fur-

niture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay

scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of

sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all,” (Poe, 7).

Overall, the mood of the house is melancholy and a little creepy.

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Similarly, the house in House Taken Over is described as old and large but is in better

condition than the house in The Fall of the House of Usher. The narrator says about the house,

“We liked the house because, apart from its being old and spacious,,,it kept the memories of our

great-grandparents, our paternal grandfather, our parents, and the whole of childhood,” (Cortázar,

1). The house is similar to the house in the other story, but it seems more homey and welcoming

than the other house. However, even though it is large, the narrator says that “Irene and I got

used to staying in the house by ourselves, which is crazy, eight people could have lived in that

place and not gotten in each other’s way,” (Cortázar, 2). Both the houses in The Fall of the House

of Usher and House Taken Over are described as large, old, and spacious.

In House Taken Over and The Fall of the House of Usher, both of the narrators are tor-

tured by something which causes issues with their sleep. In The Fall of the House of Usher, the

narrator is consumed with thoughts about Madeline and how they buried her in the house, and he

can’t sleep: “It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the night of the seventh or eighth day

after the placing of the lady Madeline within the donjon, that I experienced the full power of

such feelings. Sleep came not near my couch - while the hours waned and waned away. I strug-

gled to reason the nervousness which had dominion over me,” (Poe, 31). The condition of Usher

also is concerning him, as he describes, “It was no wonder that his condition terrified - that it in-

fected me. I felt it creeping upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own

fantastic yet impressive superstitions,” (Poe, 30). Both of these things are troubling him and

keeping him up at night.

In House Taken Over, the narrator is also troubled during the day and therefore has issues

sleeping at night. He describes himself and his sister at night by saying, “Whenever Irene talked

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in her sleep, I woke up immediately and stayed awake…Irene said that in my sleep I flared about

enormously and shook the blankets off. We had the living room between us, but at night you

could hear everything in the house…neither of us could fall asleep,” (Cortázar, 21). The behavior

of the siblings at night is the opposite of what they do during the day, as they are both quiet and

reserved. The behaviors shown at night suggest that they are troubled with something that neither

of them talks about to each other during the day. Both the characters in The Fall of the House of

Usher and House Taken Over are restless at night, which reflects that they are not at peace during

the day.

Although both of these stories are similar, the outcomes of each story are different. In The

Fall of the House of Usher, the house ends up actually falling down. The narrator witnesses this

and is terrified: “…my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder - there was a long

tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters - and the deep and dank tarn at

my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the ‘House of Usher,’” (Poe, 48). The

other characters in the story also end up dying. “…then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily in-

ward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to

the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated,” (Poe, 47). The house might

have actually fallen down, but the fact that Usher had a mental disorder combined with the narra-

tor being in close proximity with him for a long time leaves the reader wondering if the house

actually fell down or if it was a hallucination connected to a mental issue with the narrator.

Though in both stories the house is lost, the way they lose it in House Taken Over is quite

different than in The Fall of the House of Usher. Though in House Taken Over the house is lost

to them, it stays standing. The characters in this story are forced out by an unknown source.

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“‘They’ve taken over our section,’ Irene said…Before we left, I felt terrible; I locked up the front

door tight and tossed the key down the sewer. It wouldn’t do to have some poor devil go in and

rob the house, at that hour and with the house taken over,” (Cortázar, 25/29). Another difference

in the ending of House Taken Over is that both of the characters survived at the end, but they had

to leave their family house. The short story ends with them leaving the house, which symbolizes

the end of their family line as well since the house that has been with their family for years is

now lost to them.

In conclusion, House Taken Over and The Fall of the House of Usher both have similar

settings and characters, but the outcomes of the story are different. Both are set in large and old

houses that are a symbol for the relationships of the people inside them and both have similar

characters but different endings. Gothic literature is an important genre to read because it allows

readers to explore the darker side of literature, such as ghosts, monsters, and murderers. No mat-

ter the similarities and differences of these stories, they are both great examples of gothic litera-

ture.