As in almost all of Poe's stories, "The Fall of the House of Usher- takes place in autumn. A sense of death and decay surrounds the Usher mansion. .
Although no portion of the masonry had fallen.there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones. The eye of a scrutinizing observer might have [noticed] a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn". This suggested "invisible crack- in the foundation is a use of foreshadowing for the end of the story in which the family and the house do finally meet their ends. The fissure divides the house and Roderick and his sister, Madeline Usher, die, destroying the family. The "wild inconsistency- between the crack and the rest of the house is a clue to the reader that later in the story the "wild inconsistency- will become clear and consistent. Along with this, when the story's tension is about to reach its crescendo, a storm comes up, a "rising tempest". This is a symbol for the "tempest" brewing in Roderick Usher's mind after the death of his sister and the gloom that has been created from it. Poe continues to convey his single effect of gloom through his descriptions of the house by noting the "dark creaking- and "soundless rooms-. Every object and sound represents stress and madness. Even the first image of the story is one of an upside down reflection of the gloomy setting of the Usher mansion. This gloom is further carried out in Poe's descriptions of Roderick Usher, who he describes as having a "cadaverousness of complexion- and a "ghastly pallor of the skin-. Poe doesn't stop there, however; he continues on to discuss the mental state of Usher, which reaches the point of insanity with the death of his sister, Madeline Usher.
