The Cask of Amontillado

As students tend to do throughout their educational career, they recommend professors, classes, and teacher assistants based on who has “easy” grading and the difficulty of the desired class. Similar to referring friends to classes, I would gladly recommend my friends to read the short story A Cask of Amontillado written by Edgar Allen Poe. I would recommend this short story because the story is a great example of how the author uses the technique of unreliable narrator. The unreliable narrator puts the reader in a position to choose between believing or not believing the story that is being told. By using such technique, the reader begins to question the motive and choices of one of the main characters, Montressor. The reader also becomes exposed to the two characters’ personality, Montressor and Fortunato, through the characters’ names (Montressor sounds like monster while Fortunato sounds like fortune), their choices of words, and actions.

The story begins in first person singular and transitions into third person omniscient. The author uses foreshadowing and symbols to create an increase feeling of suspense in the reader as Montressor describes his plan of attack against Fortunato. Although Montressor never explains why he is leading Fortunato into his deadly trap, he does give us clues that suggest revenge. Due to the complexity of Montressor’s personality and inhumane ways, his presence as the antagonist becomes even more significant as the story goes on. This short story is and can be a thrill for people of all ages because the story brings alive a blend of mystery and murder with suspense that will keep any reader guessing until the end.

status update: Bartleby is prefering not to

The year is 2009; a time when everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) has a Facebook profile. This even includes Bartleby the scrivener from the story written by Herman Melville. Even though Bartleby the scrivener is not an active participant in the world around him on a daily basis, he did acknowledge the presence of the World Wide Web while working for the Lawyer at No.—Wall Street. When Bartleby prefers not to do any work for the Lawyer, he routinely checks his Facebook profile. His Facebook profile would not consist much of any personal information because he is a shy guy that prefers to keep to himself. Not many, no one for that matter, knows much about him and Bartleby prefers it that way because it allows others to hold assumptions about him that they feel are important. His activities include copying legal documents all day every day but only when he feels like doing so, writing in his journal, enjoying warm meals that are feed to him through his thoughts (since he barely eats and when he does, it’s no bigger than a meal of a mouse), and collecting coins, especially dimes. His interests include being confined to small areas but keeping a mind full of imagination while gazing at dark brick walls, choosing the place and time he decides to work, and enjoying shelter at his boss’s office. Bartleby identifies the Lawyer’s office as his own occupied living commons since he prefers to not leave the premises, unless force is put upon him.

Bartleby’s favorite moves are The Nightmare before Christmas, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. These are his favorite two movies because each movie stars a ghost/ “evil” creature that is misunderstood. Bartleby can relate to the characters Jack Skeleton and Casper because, like them, he is misrepresented, underestimated, and mistaken for “deranged” and ghost-like. His favorite quotes remains to be “I prefer not to.” Even though this favorite phrase goes against the wishes of his boss, Bartleby is not forced to do any job or errand he does not want to do. He simply states his preferences. The ability to state his preference gives him power over his boss that the boss believes he has over Bartleby. Due to not being a person that cares for social events, Bartleby only has Turkey, Nippers, Ginger Nut and the Lawyer as his friends on Facebook. The only pictures Bartleby has on his profile are pictures of different colored brick walls, such as red, black, and grey. If Bartleby was alive today, I believe he would prefer not to even have a Facebook profile.