Rice Literary Essay for the Short Story Unit English 9A Read each of the questions below very carefully. Then select the option of your choice and APPLY it to the story of your choice. Make sure that your essay contains significant analysis (detail & example) to be written on the story you have selected. Your essay MUST contain a title. In addition, this essay MUST be at least a page in length, typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman 12 point. Be sure that your essay has a beginning, middle, and an end. AVOID simply summarizing each story. React to and interpret the deeper intent of the author. Finally, submit your paper to turnitin.com. TOTAL POINTS = 50 points Be sure to carefully proofread and correct errors. Choose ONE of the following: Write on “man’s inhumanity to man” as it is displayed within the story of your choice. How does the conflict provided within this story best illustrate the cruelty of human beings? The development of character is a common theme in literature. Joyce Carol Oates once wrote, “It is only through disruptions and confusion that we grow, jarred out of ourselves by the collision of someone else’s private world with our own.” Think about the meaning of this quote. Then choose a story in which a character develops or changes by associating with a dissimilar character. Consider “The Most Dangerous Game” or “The Scarlet Ibis”. How does this character evolve and change as the story progresses? Is this positive or negative growth on the part of this character? Is this a likeable/unlikeable character and why? Select a story which actually taught you a specific lesson. What was the lesson you learned? How specifically did this story touch or impact you? Supply specific details and examples from your life and from the story. Write a comparison and contrast essay writing about the similarities and differences between the movie Simon birch and the short story The Scarlet Ibis. In your essay, include facts, examples, descriptions, and other information by analyzing specific similarities and differences. Choose a story you liked and give detailed reasons for why you like it. Each body paragraph should state a literary element and how that impacted the story and made it enjoyable or suspenseful. For example, be sure to tell WHY or HOW each reason makes this story the best (the irony in the story…) Rice Your Name English 9A Hour 5 Mrs. Rice Literary Essay Original & Creative Title First Paragraph: This is the introduction to your paper. Identify the title, author and a brief summary of the story. Your last sentence needs to be your thesis statement which is the main focus of your essay, in other words, the essay choice you are writing about. Second, Third, and Fourth paragraphs: These are your body paragraphs where you will give specific details, examples, and evidence that supports your thesis statement. Find one quote per paragraph from the story to provide additional support. Fifth paragraph: This is your conclusion. Tie all of your ideas together and bring your paper to a close by restating briefly your main points. Rice Describe the setting of the story as it best relates to the mood of the story. Consider discussing the imagery and how it relates to the overall mood/atmosphere of the story. Creepy in the Catacombs How would you feel going deeper and deeper into a dark, damp house of the dead all the while being led by a crazed madman? Well, this happens to a very unfortunate man named Fortunato in the story “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s vivid imagery pulls the reader with him down into the Italian underground. The setting and mood of “The Cask of Amontillado” is crucial to the story’s plot and resolution. First, Poe sets his story in Italy during the Carnival season, and the imagery he uses makes the mood mysterious. The way he discusses the importance of the carnival season and the varied costumes really gave me a look at the sly plot made by the evil Montressor. The costumes are a very crucial part of the crime. If it had been any other time of the year, there would have been a greater chance that Montressor would have been caught, but because everyone was wearing costumes it would have been much harder for someone to realize what was going on. Another reason the setting of the Carnival season impacts the mood of the story is that Fortunato has had too much to drink; therefore, he is easily tricked by Montressor. One example of this is during Montressor’s narration of seeing Fortunato at the carnival. “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much” (62). Fortunato is clueless that Montressor is upset with him based on his good natured greeting. This Rice narration gives the reader a great visual of how this setting may cause Fortunato’s demise. Next, the catacombs of the Montressor’ family mansion is the main setting that creates an unsettling mood. It was a plausible trick used by Montressor to get Fortunato to follow him into the catacombs because wealthy families at the time stored their wine among their decaying ancestors. An example of creating this unsettling mood is implied through Poe’s excellent use of imagery to describe just how creepy these catacombs are. He states, “We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs…We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones” (64-65). This use of imagery gives the reader an unsettling feeling. One realizes that perhaps this story isn’t going to end well for the unfortunate Fortunato. The setting of the catacombs enhances the mystery and fear that the reader experiences. As the story progresses, the mood continues to be dark and frightening. Due to the foreshadowing, we come to realize that Fortunato will probably not come out of the catacombs alive. For example, the atmosphere of the story is shown through the description of the dead that are decaying. “Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris” (65-66). This use of imagery makes the setting suspenseful, and as we read on, we truly are captivated by the frightening, mysterious mood of the story as Montressor bricks up Fortunato. In conclusion, the mood is set up from the beginning of the story by the vengeful Montressor who is planning a murder. The setting was important to the story because it provided the perfect conditions of mystery, fear, and revenge. The mood was created as a Rice result of clues that the narrator reveals throughout the story. This Italian underground is a setting I never want to experience firsthand. Connell, Richard. “The Most Dangerous Game.” Prentice Hall Literature 9 Minnesota. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Publishing, Incorporated, 2010.