MODEL
E2 ZERO DRAFT
E2
CHECKLIST |
LOC: LOCATE statement: |
Please read the post IMPORTANT Essay 2 tips
carefully. |
You must find ONE NAMED critic and locate your
own claim by first |
introducing his or her claim BEFORE you state
your claim. |
You must do this to get full credit on Essay 2,
no matter what else you do. |
CLAIM: Must be
ARGUABLE. Not too obvious or trivial. |
FORE: FORECAST STATEMENT
after your ARGUABLE CLAIM. Keywords relating
to the types of evidence will be repeated in topic sentences in the support section to
remind readers of where they are in your
argument. "In
this analysis, I will show that--- by citing ---, ---,
and --- (your types of textual evidence: speeches of characters, biographies, critics'
claims, etc)." |
SUPPORTS: Are there enough
in-text citations to your main text to support
your claim? |
CONCLUSION: Conclusion should
mention name of writer and text. (1) You
should explain why you have shown your position to be a stronger reading then another one,
which you describe. (2) Yes, you need to use "I" in this
conclusion and self-reflect upon the work you have done.
(3) Why has this work aided and deepened our appreciation of the text(s)? |
WORKS
CITED: Cite
both main text (primary source) and all critics and other texts (secondary sources) |
"The Cask of Amontillado":
Poe’s Painful Past
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is an intense parody, which echoes the author's past. LOC The critic J. Gerald Kennedy states a well-founded claim.
“Edgar Allan Poe’s childhood and adulthood were marred by death
of close relatives. His parents died when he was two, his stepmother
when he was twenty, and his young wife also before her time. Given this
biographical information, it sometimes puzzles people that Poe wrote
about death in such an overly sentimental way.” (Kennedy 92)
CLAIM It is my claim that the author’s persona is
manifested through the characters of Fortunato and Montresor. I do agree with Kennedy; Poe
did not have a very happy life, but I disagree that he wrote of death in an overly
sentimental way. His life was a series of terrible traumas which affected this man
throughout the remainder of his days. FORE
To bring validity to my claim, let’s delve into Poe’s biography. The biographical facts are that “Poe was born
in 1809, the son of talented English-born actress who, was deserted by her actor husband,
died of tuberculosis before her son’s third birthday” (Poe 216). After his
mother had died, Edgar’s brother and sister and he were split up. Edgar moved into
the childless home of John and Francis Allan. The
Allan’s moved to
This FORECAST needs work, in it you tell the first line of support but
you need a list of each type of evidence.
Then refer to that word of phrase in the support topic sentences.
Example: "I will cite from Poe's biography, from the narrative of
the story, from the character speeches of Montresor and Fortunado, and from the critics
Shumsky and Kennedy."
NOTE: Each point in the list will become a paragraph in your support section.
Better to start a new paragraph when you begin your supports.
Poe’s relationship with his foster father was always at odds. When he wanted financial help from him he always refused Poe. Thus Poe suffered terrible poverty.
Do you really need
all this? Couldn't it be summarized?
“Most scholars seem to agree Allan did
not give Poe sufficient funds to support
himself at the university. Poe resorted to gambling to pay his debts, and whether the
product of unscrupulous cheating or his own bad luck, Poe was soon deeply in debt
that he had no hope of repaying without Allan’s help. Allan, however, was not
inclined
to pay the debts and was infuriated by Poe’s attempt to blame Allan for his
insufficient
funds. No longer able to pay for his education, his funds cut off by his foster father,
Poe
was forced to leave the university in December 1826.” (Ed. Szumski, et al. 17-18)
One can see how at a very young age Poe suffered from a lack of nurturing, which undoubtedly led to a degree of insecurity in his adult life. He was tossed about and had to adjust to tremendous changes. This fostered a need to write and express his feelings. He was surrounded by death, and all the women he loved died of tuberculosis.
Here was a man left to fight all the ghosts from his past. He turned to alcohol to self medicate and relieve the hurt and pain he had deep within him. Poe published the “Cask of Amontillado” in 1846 during a time when his wife Virginia’s health was declining as she also suffered from tuberculosis.
Good! Refer back to
your claim and what you are refuting in your support topic sentences.
Rather
than a sentimentalized construction, Montresor is a realistic portrait of a man bent on
revenge, but perhaps he is more than this, as well. “The
Cask Of Amontillado” begins with
Montresor, the narrator of the tale, citing “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had
borne as best I could, but when he ventures upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe 217).
Fortunato had insulted Montresor beyond repair. Montresor was determined to get revenge
against Fortunato. He knew Fortunato had a weakness to wine. “He has a weak
point—this Fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and
even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe 217). Montresor
meets Fortunato at a carnival, and he is dressed like a jester and had obviously been
drinking too much. He lures Fortunato to his family’s place of burial in the
catacombs, promising him Amontillado, an expensive sherry wine from
In all of Poe’s stories he has a fascination with death. It’s interesting to see how the character of Fortunato parallels Poe’s own addiction with alcohol. Perhaps Poe wanted to get rid of “The Fortunato” in his life but didn’t know how ("Quote" par. 3). He buried Fortunato, the way Poe tried to hide his problem as well. Fortunato symbolized foolishness and youth by the way he is portrayed. Montresor appears to be in control, the very dimension Poe longs to regain. Although Montresor had malevolent tendencies, I believe he was a truly good man pushed over the edge from abuse. Yet another dimension that comes out in Poe. Critic Jeffrey Meyers spoke of Poe’s addiction as follows.
“Meyers, who believes Poe inherited his alcoholism from his father, describes
Poe’s
alcoholism this way: “The origins of Poe’s alcoholism go back to his infancy
when his nurse
tranquilized him with bread soaked in gin, and to his childhood, when he toasted dinner
guests
…. At the university he compulsively
gulped down alcohol during his drinking bouts at West Point….
Though Poe needed no excuse to start drinking, he sought relief in alcoholic binges during
times
of emotional stress. He drank when he was in
danger of losing
and after her death. He drank when overwhelmed by work and by poverty…. He drank to
calm his nerves…. He drank before and
after public lectures in
incapacitating himself for the former and disgracing himself after the latter” (Szumski 23).
Poe sealed up the monster of Fortunato.
“I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up” (Poe 222).Poe
never got rid of Fortunato; he haunted him until the day he died. “In the last years
of his life Poe was tremendously restless, shuttling between
“On September 27
Poe began the return trip to
stopped in
hallucinations. No one really knows what happened between September
28 and Oct 3, when Poe was found semiconscious and apparently
desperately ill outside Gunner’s Hall, an Irish tavern” (Szumski 29).
“There was little that could be done
for him; Poe died on October 7 and was buried in the
Need to restate claim here and why you believe you have proven it.
CONCL The Cask of Amontillado” was written by Edgar Allan Poe. I have found in my analysis that had I not read Szumski, I would not have been able to see the whole picture of Poe. This story touched me so deeply; I want to read more about him. It is terrible that someone so talented had suffered such extreme calamities. I leave you with this quote.
“Thank
Heaven! the crisis—The danger, is past, and the lingering illness, is over at last--,
and the fever called “Living” is conquered at last.”
Edgar Allan Poe
Works Cited
Ed. Bonnie Szumski, et
al. The Greenhaven Press Literary Companion
to American
Authors.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Literature:
Ed. Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell.
216-222.
The Quote Cache. "n.a." Date site created. Date you accessed site. 03 Oct. 2004
<http://quotes.prolix.nu/Death/>