Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard begins his book, Sickness Unto Death, like this: “Man is spirit. But what is the mind? Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relationship that relates to oneself. I understand The Fall of the House of Usher in these terms; the story is a description of the sick self, the sick mind, the mortally morbid human. The title provides a reasonable summary of the story: the subject is the House of Usher and what happens to the House is a fall. This would be simple enough, but matters are complicated by the fact that the phrase "House of Usher" has more than one meaning; the expression can mean "both the family and the family manor". However, when reading the story, it becomes clear that these two meanings do not represent two different realities, but rather two different representations of the same reality. Usher House, literal and physical, is a dilapidated mansion, isolated in a dark and hostile environment. The figurative House of Usher is the Usher family, which also exists in a state of isolation – the Usher genealogy is marked by consanguineous marriages. It is quite possible that this inbreeding was the origin of Roderick Usher's illness – he complains of a “constitutional and familial illness”. (Madeline's illness may also be linked to this inbreeding.) Likewise, isolation in a humid environment caused the Usher family mansion to fall into ruin. These parallels indicate that both meanings of the phrase "House of Usher" refer to the same thing. However, what exactly does the House symbolize? I consider that it symbolizes the totality of humanity's constituents of an aesthetic, moral and spiritual world...... middle of paper ...... rick. That is to say, a self-reflection exists naturally without us doing anything to make it exist, but we ignore it until we begin to look at ourselves. As soon as Madeline appears to be dead, Roderick buries her safely in a vault, and this perhaps reflects the sick person's subconscious emotional aversion to his own vision. Of course, one would also want to avoid having our personal reflection dissected and studied by others, which would be consistent with Roderick's stated intention to bury it safely. However, self-reflection can only exist, and it comes to pursue Roderick. Emotionally, overwhelmed by the sight of himself, the patient ceases introspection, but this is an abandonment of his humanity to destruction. And so the House of Usher falls.Works CitedThe Fall of the House of UsherSickness Unto Death