Abstract

Roderick Usher is the protagonist of Edgar Allan Poe’s masterpiece The Fall of The House of Usher. Concerning his death, the scholars and critics at home and abroad have discussed a lot but there is no fixed conclusion. Based on the ecological niche theory, this thesis explored Roderick Usher’s death and concluded that his death was a natural outcome as his natural as well as his social niche positions were on the decline because of his failure to have effective communication with the environment he was living in and with the people around him. Furthermore, his niche trend to do nothing to the ever-decaying living environment but to do harm to his twin sister further accelerated the demise of his niche position. It is hoped that this thesis can shed some new light on the exploration of Roderick Usher’s death and work as a kind of tentatively interdisciplinary research between ecology and literature.

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