ART/POEM PORTFOLIO

JOSH SOKOLOFF

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO ART

In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, Montressor seeks revenge

on Fortunato for some unknown reason. In the opening paragraph of The Cask

of Amontillado, Montressor explains, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had

borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.”

Montressor seeking revenge on Fortunato is like using a boomerang. When

using a boomerang, you throw the boomerang and it comes back and hits you

right in the face without you knowing. This is relevant to the story because

Fortunato must have done something awful, so now Fortunato is going to pay

for it because Montressor wants revenge for whatever Fortunato did. If we were

using the boomerang as an example, Fortunato threw the boomerang (meaning

he did something bad), and unknowingly, in the end the boomerang came back

and hit him right in his face (he paid for his bad actions). It is like the saying,

“what goes around, comes back around.”

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO LYRICS

“It’s really a shame that bad things

happen to good people, but they

do.”

Bad Things Happen to Good People –

Cece Garrison

In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Alen Poe,

Fortunato’s name is significant and canbe related to the line, “It’s

really a shame that bad things happen to good people, but they do.”

Fortunato’s name means fortunate and in the beginning of The Cask

of Amontillado Montressor announces, “He was a man to be

respected.” In the end of the story Montressor takes Fortunato down

to the catacombs and murders him. In the scene of his death

Montressor explains, “I again paused, and holding the flambeaux

over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure

within.” In the story Fortunato was a good person, but bad things

befell to him.

THE LADY OR THE TIGER ARTIn The Lady or the Tiger by Frank Stockton, the princess has to make a choice of whether her lover should open

the door to the tiger or to the women. In this short story, the princess finds a lover, but the king doesn’t approve so

he puts the man in the arena to see if he is guilty or innocent. In the arena there are two doors, one that has a

ferocious tiger behind it and one that has a beautiful woman behind it. If he picks the door with the woman behind

it, he is declared innocent and is required to marry that woman. If he picks the other door with the tiger behind it,

he is seen as guilty and gets eaten by the tiger. The only person who knows what is behind each door is the

princess. When the time comes, the author describes, “She raised her hand, and made a slight, quick movement

toward the right. No one but her lover saw her.” He immediately opened that door, but we don’t know what was

inside the door he chose. The picture of a person with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on another is a prime

example that represents the princess having to choose whether or not to let the man open the door to the tiger or

to the woman. The devil on her shoulder is telling her to let him get eaten by the tiger because the princess

doesn’t want to see her lover with another women. The angel on her other shoulder is telling her to let him be

with the woman because it would be the right thing to do. The princess had to make a tough choice to either lose

her lover to a tiger or to another woman just like in the picture where the person has to either choose the devil or

the angel.

THE LADY OR THE TIGER LYRICS

“I need to get my mind right and choose

For not making the right choice could have me lose

To me it does matter which route I take

Although either route decides my fate”

Choices or Decisions - Romano

In The Lady Or the Tiger by Frank Stockton the princess

has to make a tough decision in whether to let her lover get

eaten by a tiger or get married to a beautiful lady. In the poem

“Choices or Decisions” by Romano, the lines shown can relate

to the princess choosing her decision. Just as in the poem

Romano says, “To me it does not matter which route I take.

Although either route decides my fate.” If she chose her lover

to get eaten by the tiger, then she could be seen as a killer. So

making the right choice is important for her future. Making

correct choices can be seen in The Lady or the Tiger and in the

poem by Romano.

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME ART

The color red in The Most Dangerous Game by Richard

Connell is very significant throughout the story. Red can symbolize

blood, violence, and death. In the beginning of The Most Dangerous

Game, Rainsford falls off his yacht into the “blood-warm waters” of the

sea. We can conclude from this quote by Richard Connell that there is

going to be future violence involving Rainsford. As we get deeper into

the story the color red is more directed to General Zaroff who is

revealed as a human hunter. When Rainsford finds out that General

Zaroff hunts humans he questions, “Hunting? General Zaroff, what you

speak of is murder.” After this, the color red and violence can be seen

multiple times when General Zaroff and Rainsford are hunting each

other. The color red stands for blood, violence, and death, just like what

occurs in The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME LYRICS

“About the new game he invented”

The Most Dangerous Game Poem – Richard Connell

In The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell,

General Zaroff invents a new game. This new game is hunting

humans instead of hunting animals. When Rainsford and him

are at dinner and he is mentioning this new game, General

Zaroff proclaims, “It supplies me with the most exciting

hunting in the world. NO other hunting compares with it for

an instant. Every day I hunt, and I never grow bored now, for I

have a quarry with which I can match my wits.” This new

animal that General Zaroff hunts is a human being. Later in

The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford has to hunt against

General Zaroff. This line from “The Most Dangerous Game

Poem” talks about the new game invented by General Zaroff.

THE LOTTERY ART

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson can be related to a gun

with only one bullet in it, just like the gun shown in the illustration. In

the lottery, the oldest male of the family draws a slip of paper from a

black box. Whichever family draws the correct slip of paper, each

member of that family will draw another slip of paper. Whoever draws

the slip of paper with a black dot is the “winner” of the lottery. This

picture of a gun with one bullet is relevant to the Lottery by Shirley

Jackson because each time someone drew from the black box, it was

like putting this gun to your head. And if you fire the gun, and no

bullet comes out then you survive. For Tessie, when she drew the

paper with the black dot on it, the gun was fired and the bullet did

come out. The one bullet gun has a deep connection to The Lottery by

Shirley Jackson.

THE LOTTERY LYRICS

“The tradition over here is very strange to me!

And you can’t change the very minds of these

people.”

Tradition – Edward Kofi Louis

The tradition of the lottery in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

can be seen through these lines exposed by Edward Kofi Louis. Edward

Kofi Louis says the tradition is very strange just like in The Lottery where

people have to select a piece of paper and if they win the lottery, they

get killed. Shirley Jackson clarifies, “The original paraphernalia for the

lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the

stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest

man in town, was born.” The people in this town continue to follow the

tradition of keeping the lottery because they think their town will go

uncivil and things will become a disaster. The people won’t change their

minds about discontinuing the lottery due to the fact that they think

the lottery is a necessity to having a good town.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ART

Arnold Friend in Where are You Going, Where Have You

Been by Joyce Carol Oates can be seen as a stalker just like the guy in

the drawing on the right. When Arnold first appeared at Connie’s

house, he new her name and that she would be at home all by herself.

This is similar to what a stalker would know. He also knew that

Connie’s family was at Aunt Tillie’s barbeque and they weren’t coming

home soon. Arnold explains, “Right now they’re uh – they’re drinking.

Sitting around. Yeah. Sitting around. There’s your sister in a blue dress,

huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch – nothing like you,

sweetheart.” Arnold just went on and on like he was part of their

family and new everything about them. In Joyce Carol Oates, Where

Are You Going, Where Have You Been, Arnold Friend can be seen as a

stalker similar to the stalker in the picture.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN LYRICS

“Saying yeah…you want her, but she’s so mean.

You’ll never let her go. Why don’t you let her go?”

She’s So Mean – Rob Thomas

These are two lines by Matchbox 20 in their song called

“She’s So Mean” that can represent and connect to Arnold Friend never

wanting to leave Connie until she went on a ride with him even though

Connie was kind of being mean to him during Joyce Carol Oates’, Where

Are You Going, Where Have You Been. When Arnold Friend first showed

up at Connie’s house, Connie would proclaim things in disgust and

would play hard to get. Despite Connie’s mean attitude, Arnold

wouldn’t leave and kept on asking Connie, “You wanna come for a

ride?” Connie once replied, “I got things to do,” even though she had

nothing planned that entire day. Connie would also proclaim, “Shutup!

You’re crazy,” or “Get the hell out of here,” to Arnold. No matter what

Connie did Arnold wouldn’t leave her until she came with him on a ride

similar to the two lines in Rob Thomas’s song, “She’s So Mean”.

ORIENTATION ART

In Orientation by Daniel Orozco, all the people

mentioned that work in the office are different just like the

picture of the colored pencils. There is not one colored

pencil that is the same in the picture just like the people in

Orientation. For example there is one person, “He is a serial

killer, the one they call the Carpet Cutter, responsible for the

mutilations across town.” The guy who is being described is

Kevin Howard. Another person who is described in the story

is Gwendolyn Stich who has an obsession for penguins.

Everything she owns has penguins on it and, “she

personalized license plates that read PEN GWEN.” As you can

see, both of these people in Daniel Orozco’s Orientation are

different just like the colored pencils.

ORIENTATION LYRICS

This line by Lil Wayne in his song, “Right Above It”

can also relate to everybody being different even if you live or

work together, just like in Orientation by Daniel Orozco. When Lil

Wayne says, “Live in the same buildin’,” that can relate to all the

people in the office who work together. And as Lil Wayne

proclaims in the second part of the line, “but we got different

views,” can relate to the people in the office who all have different

views on whom they admire. In Orientation, the narrator explains,

“Russell Nash, who sits in the cubicle to your left, is in love with

Amanda Pierce.” The narrator goes on to proclaim, “Amanda

Pierce, who tolerates Russell Nash, is in love with Albert Bosch.”

All the people in the story have different views similar to the way

Lil Wayne explains it in his song. Lil Wayne’s line in “Right Above

It” can relate to Daniel Orozco’s, Orientation.

“Live in the same buildin’ but we got

different views”

Right Above It – Lil Wayne

THE END