1. AP Language & Composition Model Edgar Allan Poe Presentation
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

2. Summary/Plot Overview of Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
In this short story, Poe describes a developing encounter between two men, Fortunato and Montresor (the narrator). From the very opening of the tale, the narrator reveals that Fortunato insulted the narrator in the past, and as a result, he vows to take his revenge. The remainder of the story revolves around Montresor’s plot to lure Fortunato into a vulnerable position and then murder him. Montresor waits for the perfect opportunity, a festival/carnival within the city, and convinces Fortunato to follow him home to his estate to sample a rare and coveted Spanish wine (the Amontillado). Beneath the home also contains the family catacombs, and it is here that Montresor takes Fortunato to exact his revenge. He proceeds to lock him into an open portion of a wall and chains him to it. He then bricks up the room and leaves him there to suffer and die.

3. Summary/Plot Overview of Jackson’s The Lottery
The story begins in a small, seemingly ordinary town. Everyone in the town has excitedly gathered for a lottery. However, there are hints that this lottery is more sinister; for instance, young boys begin gathering stones in the corner of the town, revealing that this event is deeply rooted in the town’s history and tradition although neighboring towns have recently abandoned the event for some reason. Mr. Summers, a local townsman, calls everyone to order for the lottery. One by one, a head of each household comes forward to collect a slip of paper, with one potentially containing a black dot (which is later revealed). Everyone in the Hutchinson family then comes forward, much to the protest of Tessie Hutchinson, the family’s matriarch. Everyone in the family, from the oldest to the youngest, then draws again, and it is revealed that Tessie Hutchinson has the black dot. She is then stoned to death for “winning” the lottery.

4. Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
Major Themes
Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
Jackson’s The Lottery
The danger behind obsession (obsession leading to murder and revenge)
Revenge and how it can dominate one’s thoughts/actions and be a destructive/fulfilling force
Routine, tradition, etc. are rarely evaluated and changed (people don’t question history or practiced rituals/traditions, but they probably should)
The dangers of conformity
Human detachment (i.e. from family, emotions, morality, etc.)

5. Romantic and/or Gothic Characteristics
Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
Jackson’s The Lottery
Isolation (physical)
Obsession (revenge)
Mystery (inexplicable event—not necessarily supernatural, unknown about narrator’s psyche)
Ancient legacy
Gloom, doom, despair (i.e. creepiness of setting/location)
Isolation (emotional or psychological)
Consumed by tradition, culture, or a way of life
Mystery (inexplicable event—unknown for town’s motivations behind event)
Ancient legacy
Transformation from commonplace/ordinary to creepy, unsettling atmosphere

6. Compare/Contrast of both Texts
The Cask of Amontillado
-One man’s revenge against another (killing out of hatred/malice)
The victim was tricked into going to the catacombs (lured into his murder)
The Lottery
-Yearly ritual “needs to be done” (devoid of emotion, hate, etc.); it is a necessity of this society for some inexplicable reason
-The townspeople are aware of the implications of the lottery, but the reader is unaware until the very end (situational iron)
*Similarities: An individual’s death; lack of guilt/remorse, slow, painful death; story culminates with victim’s death and calm/civil perpetrators viewed as justified

7. A/C/E Class Activity
Shirley Jackson, in the beginning of “The Lottery,” offers subtle, undetected evidence of depraved behaviors, but later divulges the town's true transgressions of conforming to an inherent evil. The reader notices but does not reconsider the significance of Bobby Martin "stuffing his pockets full of stones" or the "pile of stones in the corner” until completion of the story. However, the author brings a bit more attention to the black box with the extensive imagery, showing the black box "growing shabbier each year” which emphasizes its mystery and its undeniable role in the tradition of the town.
Complete the paragraph that explains the significance of the above evidence. Complete the explanation by embedding further evidence to support the assertions' conforming to an inherent evil.