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