A subordinating conjunction enables to give transition to the ideas of the sentence and it also enables to join a main clause to a subordinate clause. In the sentence above, the subordinating conjunction used in the sentence is Whether.
Always remember that the subordinating conjunction will be followed by a clause.
The title of the story includes the word fall which foreshadows the ending of the Usher family line. The decreped state of the house described in the begining foreshadows the dissolution of the Usher family.
Yes! you are giving a human quality to a nonhuman.