Daniel Hoffman Says of the House of Usher: "It Is no House at All, but a Profound and Intricate Metaphor of the Self"

A sense of the supernatural and mystic surrounding the house pervades the narration from the very beginning. The house is personalised, as the narrator and Roderick attribute to it the ability to influence people (its inhabitants as well as the narrator). We are thus made to consider it as more than merely a part of the background for the story.
The first hint at the house being a metaphor of the self is given in the fact that the local peasants used the term "House of Usher" for both the mansion and the Usher family, as though they are inseparable. However, the foundation for Hoffman's statement lies primarily in the narrator's descriptions of the house and of Roderick, which are strikingly similar. …