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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…)
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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.
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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
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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
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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.