1.) In "The Fall of the House of Usher," we learn little about why the narrator visits Roderick Usher, why they were "boon companions" years before, why Usher and his sister live in such a dismal structure, and why Roderick and the narrator do nothing when they hear ominous noises in the depths of the house. Similarly, in "The Cask of Amontillado," we have only a sentence or two about Montresor's relationship with Fortunato. Why are such potentially important matters about human relationships sidestepped in these tales?
2.) In both of the stories we read by Poe, and even in the poem "The Raven," we move from an outer world into a dark inward place, join the company of obsessed or deranged characters, and end up with a final contemplation of horror. Should we read these tales as being about the movement of the mind from the waking state into reverie, dreams, and nightmares? Does doing so enrich a reading of these tales? Or does that kind of reading seem needlessly clever to you?