Recommended Reading; "The Cask of Amontillado"

The fiction we have read this quarter has all been interesting in its own way, my favorite however and the one I would recommended to friends is "The Cask of Amontillado". The short story, written by Edgar Allen Poe, has a very dark and sinister plot underneath the cheery mask of the carnival. We follow Montressor through the catacombs as he narrators his story of murdering his friend. Montressor is an unreliable narrator in this story since everything is told in first person by  him, and he is the one committing the crime as well. We start to wonder whether or not the whole story is true, whether or not he really had a motive to kill Fortunato, or which bits and pieces are true if the whole story is not. It brings mystery and intrigue to the reading of the story and complexity of the plot.  

Throughout the story Poe uses dramatic irony to increase the mystery of Montressor's intensions and bring humor with the murder. For example, as they are heading down to the catacombs, Montressor opens up a bottle of "De Grave" wine and presents it to Fortunato to drink, foreshadowing his death. Along with the dramatic irony are the ironic names of the characters. Montressor sounds almost like monster and in the story he truly is monster like. Fortunato sounds like fortune which is ironic because he does not know what fortune awaits him down in the catacombs. Overall, the humorous irony and mysterious narrating make "The Cask of Amontillado" an appealing story to read and recommend. 

Bartleby is I prefer not to say

There is a lot one can learn by looking at someone's Facebook page; their interests, favorite music, favorite pastimes, who their friends are and so much more, that is, if they provide any of that information. Bartleby's Facebook would fall under the category of those profile's lacking in description and creativity. His profile picture would be taken from behind showing him standing and facing a solid brick wall that towers above him. Right off the bat this would show others his hesitancy to face reality and his awkward social skills.  His wall would be barren except for a few comments from his overly compassionate boss who does not understand him in the slightest. He would not have a lot of friends, mostly just those he worked with at his previous job at the post office and his colleagues at the law office. On his information page, one of his interests would be starring and another would be the mystery of walls since throughout the story he is constantly facing walls with a blank stare on his face. His about me section would simply say "I prefer not to" and his favorite quote would be the same. Overall, one would not get a lot of information by simply surfing Bartleby's Facebook page, you would have to delve deeper into the meaning of everything he has on the page and piece together the different pieces to figure him out. His page is mysterious and lacking description just as he is as a character.