Imagination And Fear In "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" By Edgar Allan Poe And "The House Taken Over" By Julio Cortazar
Have you ever been scared of something that you don't know the face of, and then once you know that character you’re not as scared? Well it happens quite a lot to a lot of people, but not to me all that much. The only time i am ever scared in the way i just explained is like maybe at an amusement park. i could also be scared like when im playing a horror video game. The two stories "The Fall of The House of Usher", by Edgar Allan Poe, and "The House Taken Over", by Julio Cortazar, are also stories that have this kind of fear in them. Imagination overcomes reason when you don’t know who or what something is.
Furthermore, like before i usually only get scared at amusement parks or when I’m playing a scary game. One time a couple years ago when my Mom and I were at Castle and Coasters for my birthday and i was scared to go onto this ride, though i forgot what it was called. My mom and I just went along doing all the other rides until we came back to the "scary" one again. So I just decided to go on it. After a while waiting in line we finally got on. The ride was scary but not as scary as i thought it would be and i actually wanted to go back on the ride once it was done. The line was to long anyway so we just went to go get some food. After we ate we just decided to go home because it was getting late. Anyway, I was scared of the rollercoaster when it really wasn’t even that bad in the first place. When i got off the rollercoaster that it wasn’t even that scary and it was actually fun.
Similarly, in "The Fall of The House of Usher", the character Roderick Usher is anxious because he thinks he buried his wife Madeline alive. He gets scared and starts to go mad because he keeps hearing noises coming from the vault where Madeline was buried. Roderick thinks that Madeline will come to take revenge or maybe kill him. Eventually he starts to think that Madeline is behind the door waiting for him. But Madeline really is behind the door, but then the door bursts open and Madeline comes in, extremely exhausted and very weak. She fall onto Roderick and he has a heart attack and dies and them Madeline also dies when she falls on top of him. Soon after the house begins to crack and then the entire house falls down. Roderick was scared of something that didn’t actually happen and it caused him his death.
When you overreact or get scared or even anxious so much you start to do strange things, like what Roderick was like. However, in "The House Taken Over", the two characters Ilene and the other one were scared of something or someone that was taking over there house. The thing eventually took over one side of the house. So they had to leave there belongings and live on the side they were already on. They didn't want to go and try to take it back because they were scared of who or what it might be lurking on the other side. Soon after the thing started to go onto their side of the house and take it over. So they hid in a closet and were then forced onto the streets because they were too scared they might be killed. The characters in this story were too scared to even want to face the danger. So they just left without even knowing what it was. Their imagination was clouding there mind and not letting them think "properly".
Imagination overcomes reason when you don’t know who or what something is. The characters in these two stories weren’t thinking straight because they were thinking or imagining too much. In my story i was imagining that i would fall or the rollercoaster would break. It could also just be the fact that i don't like being upside-down in a rollercoaster because it had loops and upside-down parts. Either way, whenever you’re scared in a scary situation don't let your thoughts lead you through things, and though you might wanna trust your instincts, your instincts aren't always right. Think smart first, and then if you've got nothing else left then you trust your instincts. Don't let your thoughts control you because remember, you control them.
