Read the excerpt from Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher."The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death. We replaced and screwed down the lid, and, having secured the door of iron, made our way, with toil, into the scarcely less gloomy apartments of the upper portion of the house. Which statement best describes how Poe develops a specific element of American Gothic fiction in the excerpt?
Answer
A
He characterizes the deceased as having been a beautiful young woman.
B
He reveals the setting as a dark, depressing tomb.
C
He presents a conflict as the men struggle with their physical limitations.
D
He introduces the mysterious event of a corpse looking happy and lovely.
Explanation
Poe emphasizes the unsettling appearance of the supposedly dead woman: she has a faint blush and a lingering smile, which seem out of place in death. This creates a mysterious, macabre effect characteristic of Gothic fiction. The detail does more than simply describe her beauty; it makes the corpse seem strangely lifelike.
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