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.

Questionable Trustworthiness: The Cask of Amontillado

When I was on the cheerleading squad during my senior year of high school, I constantly heard stories about other people’s lives. Even though I did not care about the information that was given to me, I questioned the reliability of the news that I was being told. Did this person make up this information? Did the situation really happen? Can I trust these words that I’m being told? Come to find out, fifty percent of the stories were usually gossips and lies. This time in my life can be used as an example towards the importance of questioning the reliability of a storyteller. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator, Montresor, is not trustworthy because his reliability is questionable.

Montresor is not trustworthy in my opinion because he lives his life living with two different faces. In the beginning of the story, Montresor complements Fortunato (ironically that this man’s name means “fortune”) by reassuring the reader that Fortunato is “respected and even feared”. Montresor also complements Fortunato during a coughing episode while walking into the wine cellar. He tells Fortunato, “Your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was.” Complimenting Fortunato as many times as Montresor has, creates Fortunato to gain trust within Montresor. However, Montresor disguises his true feeling of revenge with a kind of demeanor that lures Fortunato into a deadly trap.

Another event in the story that lead to me to disbelieving Montresor was at the end of the story when Montresor is restacking the piles of bones after burying Fortunato between the walls. He says, “For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed [the bones].” This line is significant in how the Montresor complements himself in the murders he has done for “half a century”. He begins his story by complimenting someone he despises but by the end the story, by compliments himself. No one has realized that Montresor has committed such terrible acts because in the outside world, above the wine cellar, he appears to be a genuine guy. No matter how trustworthy or nice someone may seem, appearances can be conceiving.

Introduction of "God's Grandeur"

When you hear the word “nature”, does any image recall an experience or moment in your life? If you’re like me, you probably thought of an image where the world seemed at peace for a brief moment. I automatically think of the time when I went to Tahoe to learn how to ski last weekend. I was left breathless when I saw the white snow that covered the mountaintops and slopes along the mountainsides. I could not help but constantly think how gorgeous the scenery was and how the snow sparkled in the sunlight. Since I am use to the chaotic grey city life, I do not see snow as frequently as I did that weekend. However, with all the beauty that surrounded me, I constantly saw machines, lifts, hotels and cars populate the new world that I was becoming accustomed to. Somehow, the beauty that nature contained was smothered in the ways we, citizens, entertain ourselves with the help of the advancements in our world.

With all the good visions we think of when we hear an abstract word like nature, no one thinks about the dark experiences that nature goes through, such as forest fires, pollution, or the extinction of animal species throughout the passing years. In the poem “God’s Grandeur”, the author, Gerard Manley Hopkins, reveals the good and bad images that nature has claimed as part of its own existence. Even though the good and bad images create two different feelings, one of dread and fear while the other contains the feeling of fulfillment, they need each other to coexist.

The coexistence I just mentioned appears in the various images in the first and second stanza. The first stanza, which represents nature being neglected, contains colors of dark grayness by the use of “oil” (3) and fire. The second stanza is given reassurance through the presence of the Holy Ghost (13) and an angel (14). Usually the coexistence of two extremes, for example world peace and terrorism, is questioned by the intention of a higher power, which in this case is God.

"Into the Gentle Heart We Must Meet" written by Brittany Moso

Into the gentle heart we must meet

Afraid to damage the place

From which he does beat

Two pairs of young feet

Walk with the same pace

Into the gentle heart we must meet

The sense of being complete

Comes from such embrace

From which he does beat

Angelic kindness-oh how sweet

Lives within the smile that lays across his face

Into the gentle heart we must meet

What a wonderful treat

The delicacy of the chase

From which he does beat

With every single greet

The cycle ends with the race

Into the gentle heart we must meet

From which he does beat

William Blake's "The Tyger"

“The Tyger”, written by William Blake, poses many paradoxes throughout the poem. Underneath the poem, Blake included his own illustration of what the tiger appears to be. The tiger appears to be an animal that would come from a collection of childhood stories. The poem also has a child-like quality due to the rhythm of the words. Throughout the poem, questions are being asked about the existence of the tyger. The constantly asked questions about the actions, appearance, and construction of the tyger are questions that can be inferred to come from a child.

As a person experiences their childhood, the world seems to have no complications and no evil anywhere. Children are seen as innocent, pure and as a gift from God. However, as the person grows up, they begin to notice life in the real world for the bad and for the good. The child-like atmosphere, that includes the questions and the curiosity of how the tyger came into existence, is from the mindset of Blake as a poet. It can be inferred that Blake opposes the building of the industries and machines around him. Due to Blake living in the world of wishing things to be simple like they are in one’s childhood, he can not see past the need to advance in life with the use of machines.

In stanza five, the narrator asks the question, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” This question contains a sense of bewilderment and wonder. The narrator is more in awe with the existence of the tyger instead of being impressed that the tyger could have been created by God.

As stated in the poem, God created the Lamb. The Lamb represents purity, innocence, delicacy, and peacefulness. However, the tyger is seen as a ferocious, wild, evil being; opposite of the Lamb. This parallel plays on the co-existence of good and evil. When an unexpected event occurs in a person’s life, that person usually tends to turn to God (or a higher power) for answers. For example, when the Twin Towers fell in September of 2001, questions such as “Why did this happen to me?” or “How could You let this happen?” were asked throughout the nation. The wonderment of how can the tyger exists, as evil as it maybe, proves that good and evil can co-exist in the world. This parallel plays on the coexistence of good and evil. Just because the tyger is created from the industries does not make the tiger evil. Likewise, even though the tyger looks like a harmless robot, as shown in Blake’s illustration, does not make the tyger a beastly animal.

The disbelief about the tyger can be noticed in a comparison of the first and the last stanza. The last stanza is identical to the first stanza except for the word change of “could” to “dare”. The effect that the last stanza has on the poem is to emphasize the existence of the tyger. In the first stanza, the word “could” is said with a tone of questioning and uncerrtainty. However, the word change to “dare” in the last stanza is said with more conviction and fear towards the tyger’s character.

"In a Station on the Metro" written by Ezra Pound

The poem “In a Station of the Metro”, written by Ezra Pound, consists of only two lines. When I first read this poem, I was shocked by how quickly the poem ended. The intention of creating a short poem could be to have the reader play close attention to words and patterns. The words, such as “apparition”, “petals”, and “bough” compensate for the length of the poem because there is an unfamiliar connection between each word. As the poem ends quite abruptly, change also occurs quickly. As I looked closer at the words, I noticed that the poem had a sense of dread. This dread appears in both lines of the poem. The first line states, “The apparition of these faces in the crowd”. The “apparition” sets an image in my mind of people that have no capabilities to think for themselves and always do what they are told—ghostlike beings. The people, I imagine, are thoughtless and mindless of their own lives and the world around them. With the production of more technology in the last five years, more and more people are becoming dependent on laptops, Blackberry cell phones, and iPods. We (the consumers) are becoming mindless and thoughtless because we are allowing machines to think for us.

The second line states, “Petals on a wet, black bough”. The “wet” symbolizes weeping while the color black represents death. The death I am speaking of is not the death of a person; it is the death of the minds in the human race. Also, petals do not stand on a branch (“bough”) on their own. Petals are usually a part of a flower. However, as a flower dies and wilts, the petals fall from the flower onto the ground. This is similar to how technology has affected us as a nation. As our society becomes more reliable on technology and concerned with how to advance with technology, the human species will eventually fall apart like a petal on a flower’s stem.

On the other hand, change can occur for the better. There is also an insight in the poem of hope for what the future can become. Even though the word “apparition” means a ghostlike image of a person, it also means the appearance of something remarkable. Since there is said to be an “apparition of these faces in the crowd”, the faces in the crowd can be faces of new born babies since they contain the essence of the future.

The second line, “petals on a wet, black bough”, symbolizes the ending of winter and the beginning of spring. The coming season of spring brings upon new beginnings of change, hope, and life. “Wet, black bough” is referring to the trees that hold the petals of the flowers throughout the season. The “crowds” and “bough” are the elements of strength in the poem. Strength can come in numbers (“faces in a crowd”) or as a sturdy platform (“black bough”). There is a continuous cycle of life throughout this poem. As winter approaches, flowers die and life seems to come to a near halt. However, spring will approach once again as a new light. The advancement of technology in this modern era will bring upon opportunities to progress into a new way of living for the better of all mankind.