Many of Poe’s contemporaries were concerned with making moral and political statements through their writing. These writers believed that literature should be didactic, that it should teach a lesson. Poe preferred to write stories that focused on channeling singular emotions and effects rather than conveying a moral or a lesson. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe intentionally leaves his story without a lesson, showing that because people and nature are corrupted there is no lesson to be learned. The story ends abruptly in death and destruction, with only the narrator left alive to recount it. The narrator does not attempt to make sense of the events; he only gives detailed descriptions. Since there is no lesson attached, the story must be enjoyed for its own sake without a moral aim.