Study Guide: Key
The Devil and Tom Walker; The Fall of the House of Usher; The Raven
1. What is the “one condition which need not be mentioned, being generally understood in all cases
where the Devil grants favors”? p. 248
Tom giving his soul to the Devil
2. The opening descriptions of the forest suggest that what Tom will find there will be: dull and
depressing or treacherous and malignant?
Treacherous and malignant
3. In what way is Tom Walker a one-dimensional character? What does he symbolize?
He symbolizes human greed and miserliness
4. What is an omniscient narrator?
Stands outside the action, details thoughts and feelings of characters, uses commentary
5. The story implies that God expresses His disapproval of humans” sins by _________. P. 243
Causing natural disasters
6. A main lesson of this story is that _____ and mean-spiritedness leads to misery. greed
7. What seems to be Tom’s prime motivation in agreeing to the Devil’s terms? greed
8. What is the significance of Tom’s finding most of the tall trees in the forest each “marked with the
name of some great man of the colony”?
carved onto the trees are the names of those who made a deal with the devil
9. Which of the following words best describes the single effect created by the opening description of
the house in “The Fall of the House of Usher”? sadness, terror or wariness? wariness
10. After the narrator arrives, Roderick reveals that his present state stems largely from what?
The fatal disease afflicting his beloved sister
11. What is a central theme of “The Fall of the House of Usher”? A person cut off from the _____ can fall
prey to irrational _____ and mental _____.
World, fears, illness
12. Which detail early in “The Fall of the House of Usher” most clearly foreshadows, or hints at, the
story’s ending?
The narrator’s fear of the tarn
13. Why does the narrator “start” when Roderick Usher mentions “the gradual yet certain condensation
of an atmosphere…about the waters and the walls” of the House of Usher?
The narrator himself felt such an atmosphere when he approached the estate
14. To what might the title “The Fall of the House of Usher “ refer? List several
The physical collapse of the Usher mansion; the extinction of the Usher family; the fall from grace or
good fortune that overtakes the Usher family; the season in which the story takes place
15. What does the speaker in “The Raven” first feel when he first thinks that Lenore may be at his door?
Terror and hope or confusion and melancholy? Terror and hope
16. When the speaker describes Lenore as “nameless here for evermore” what does he mean?
Lenore is so special that she is nameless in the speaker’s heart.
17. What is a central theme of “The Raven”?
loss of love causes bitterness; or grief can cause hallucinations; or isolation can lead to madness?
Isolation can lead to madness
Vocabulary:
Extort – to obtain by threat or violence
Ostentation Parsimony
Avarice
Obeisance
Craven
Equivocal appellation –