Torin Chadburn

Literature 2200 Midterm Exam

Question 1, Literary Devices: The Yellow Wallpaper

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the setting, and the ways in which it is described, is arguably the most

important aspect of the story. It is the driving force behind the narrator's fall into madness, the

plot of the text. The mood of the story is heavily reliant on the ways the setting is described.

When discussing the wallpaper of her room the narrator says, “The color is hideous enough, and

unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturous.” She is constantly focused

on the details of the room she is within as they drive her mad and upset her. This leads to a dark

and angry tone via a setting and descriptions that a reader can imagine and be pulled into. The

opposite tone can be seen near the beginning of the story, “There is a delicious garden! I never

saw such a garden–large and shady, full of box bordered paths, and lined with long

grape-covered arbors with seats under them.” And this contrast is used to pull the reader through

a setting that gradually deteriorates and becomes more and more repulsive. This transition, in the

setting’s descriptions alone, brilliantly highlights and guides the reader along the narrator's

descent into madness. But the setting is not only a tool to display mood. It also acts as a bridge

between the reader and the narrator; it provides a connection that allows the reader to empathize

with the narrator by giving the reader something they can imagine and relate to. When the

narrator writes, “The outside pattern is a florid arabesque, reminding one of a fungus. If you can

imagine a toadstool in joints, an interminable string of toadstools, budding and sprouting in

endless convolutions–why, that is something like it.” The reader can picture that imagery, and

feel in a way similar to how the narrator must.

Question 1, Literary Theory: The Cask of Amontillado

The Cask of Amontillado is a story filled with class commentary. This is seen from the beginning

when Montresor says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back; your health is precious. You are

rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as I once was. You are a man to be missed. For

me it is no matter.” These lines show how Fotunato is of a higher class than our main character

Montresor, and, when Montresors’s goal is taken into consideration, how he is looked down on

by Montresor for it. Montresor sees Fortunato as a rich fool. Poe in writing this shows that he

believes similar things to be true on a scale beyond this story, that the upper class in general is

made up of fools. This when viewed with a Marxist lens very closely models the main ideas of

the theory. That the upper class is oppressive and considered foolish or incompetent by the lower

class. And another focal point of this theory, that the lower class will seek to overthrow the

upper, is shown very well when Montresor murders Fortunato near the end of the story.

“‘Fortunato!’ No answer. I called again–’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 bells.” By

the end of the story it is learned that Montresor was never caught or punished for his crimes.

According to the lens of psychoanalysis this hints that Poe, in allowing his character to get away

with such action, subconsciously believes it is okay and not deserving of punishment. This

further implies that Poe believes the lower class should rise against the upper class which

conforms with marxist theory.