Class Notes for 5/6

Well, today in class we first did another set of questions for the AP test (which is, in case you haven't realized yet, next wednesday) about math proofs and their elegance. We then proceeded to do all of the questions and then went over them.
After having a few comments on whether or not this set of questions was easier or harder than the previous sets, we then recieved our annotated bibliographies, but not our outlines. Look for them tommorow. We then proceeded to continue our discussion of Poe's A Cask of Amontillado, picking up where we left off in talking about the Masons. Deirdre talked a little of how her uncle was a Catholic and is now a Mason. and how the Masons, an ancient fraternal order, are hated by the Catholic Church. Mr Lazarow explained that a possible reasoning for this hatred is the desire of the Catholic Church to not have any nonreligious based secret societies.
We then raised the question of whether Montresor bricked up Fortunato for personal revenge or for religious retribution. While it is never mentioned explicitly that Montresor is a Catholic, Jasmine brought up the point that Fortunato says "For the love of God, Montresor!" and Montresor replies "Yes, for the love of God," suggesting religious motivation. Some in the class felt that the religious motivation was simply an additional excuse to kill Fortunato, while other felt that it was the main motivator.
We then proceeded to discuss various other aspects of the story, including the fact that Fortunato's insult of Montresor is never included in the story. We then discussed whether this was an omission in narration or a deliberate action on Poe's part, with the general consensus being that this was a deliberate action, perhaps to explore human and criminal psyschology more (as this was Poe's goal). Throughout our discussion we brought up various aspects in the story, such as Montrsor's family's coat of arms (a snake biting a foot stepping on it - with the snake being the family), and the family motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit", meaning "No one strikes me with impunity." This perhaps suggests that Montresor is taking this insult too far.
In all, we had a productive discussion on Poe's work today, and will continue tommorow.

- Arka