How do Edgar Allan Poe’s stories use a narrator’s distorted perceptions?

Edgar Allan Poe frequently employs first-person narration in his short stories to immerse the reader in the psychological states of his characters, often utilizing distorted perceptions to heighten feelings of dread and stress.1

By using an unidentified narrator, such as in "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe creates a surrogate for the reader. This allows the audience to experience the narrative as both an observer and a participant, effectively adopting the narrator’s subjective, often unreliable, perspective. These narrators often navigate environments defined by decay and Gothic conventions, where their sensory experiences—such as interpreting a house as sentient or hearing sounds that manifest from a book—blur the line between objective reality and internal psychological torment.1

Poe’s technique relies on this duality: while he maintains an air of objectivity, his stories are deeply rooted in the narrator's "feverish" imagination and inner visions of crime or madness. By focusing on the unity of mood and effect, Poe forces the reader to share in the narrator's growing hysteria, ensuring that the horror is felt as a personal, visceral experience.21