Reader Response Journal Prompts

Journal 1 (Pgs. 174-175)

Prompt:
What is Poes tone at the start of The Cask of Amontillado?
What is the atmosphere of The Cask of Amontillado?
How does Poe create the atmosphere through his tone?
Be sure to be specific and use evidence from the text to support your responses. Remember to use
quotation marks when quoting the text directly.
Vocabulary:
1. Choose 3 words to lookup from this section of reading.
2. Copy/paste the words and their definitions (from Collins Dictionary).
3. How does learning the meaning of these words change your understanding of the
narrative?
a. Be specific.
Journal 2 (Pgs. 176-177)
Prompt:
The essential question for this unit is: What must an author do in order to craft a story into a
work of literary art?
What has Poe done so far in the story to craft a work of literary art?
What is missing?
Include at least 3 of the narrative vocab terms in your response.
Be sure to be specific and use evidence from the text to support your responses. Remember to use
quotation marks when quoting the text directly.
Vocabulary:
1. Choose 3 words to lookup from this section of reading.
2. Copy/paste the words and their definitions (from Collins Dictionary).
3. How does learning the meaning of these words change your understanding of the
narrative?
b. Be specific.

Journal 3 (Pgs. 178-179)

Prompt:
Examine the diction Poe uses to describe Fortunato on the final page of the story (179). For
example: I heard the furious vibrations of the chain, A succession of loud and shrill screams,
bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, now there came from out the niche a
low laugh.
How are these descriptions different from how Fortunato has been described up to
this point in the story?
What tone is Poe taking with this character?
What does this diction tell us about the narrators thoughts, feelings, and treatment of
Fortunato?
Be sure to be specific and use evidence from the text to support your responses. Remember to use
quotation marks when quoting the text directly.
Vocabulary:
4. Choose 3 words to lookup from this section of reading.
5. Copy/paste the words and their definitions (from Collins Dictionary).
6. How does learning the meaning of these words change your understanding of the
narrative?
a. Be specific.
Journal 4
Prompt:
In the last passage of the story, Poe writes of the narrator (Montresor): Fortunato! No answer
still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in
return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick - on account of the dampness of the
catacombs.
Do you think Montresors heart grew sick because of the dampness or for some
other reason?
Be sure to be specific and use evidence from the text to support your responses. Remember to use
quotation marks when quoting the text directly.
Journal 5
Prompt:
Select three (3) of the following narrative terms, and discuss/describe each one as it relates to
The Cask of Amontillado and its role in Poe crafting a story into a work of literary art.

Be sure to be specific and use evidence from the text to support your responses. Remember to use
quotation marks when quoting the text directly.

theme
setting
tone
diction
suspense
foreshadowing
irony (verbal, situational, or dramatic)
character