The Fall of the House of Usher question

This has to be my fav or Poe's shorts. With Usher's sensitivities I could guess that keeping the room feeling smaller would also rid the room of potential echos or sounds from other rooms, insulation. Everything in the story seemed to foreshadow something that was to come. His paintings etc. So maybe the narrow room was symbolic of a tomb? Of Madeleine' tomb? Or of the final fate of the house? While it looked to Usher that he didn't have control over anything, and the tone was also written that way, he still buried his sister alive. It seemed as if he could have avoided doing that but made the decision to do so just because he thought he was going to do it at some point.

I like Lovecraft's suggestion that Roderick, Madeleine and the house are all 'one soul'. Viewed in that light; the 'control' is a psychological reflex embracing all of them.

I think this short story (it's not a novel, by the way) teaches, through dark metaphoring, the folly of giving up hope before all hope is really gone. That's metaphored in Madeline's being buried alive.