Assignments and Material

Day 1
Notes on Mystery, Horror, and Synesthesia
Definition Mystery
1. Something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.
"the mysteries of outer space"
synonyms:
puzzle, enigma, conundrum, riddle, secret, problem, unsolved problem
o "his death remains a mystery"
the condition or quality of being secret, strange, or difficult to explain.
o "much of her past is shrouded in mystery"
o synonyms:
secrecy, obscurity, uncertainty, mystique
"her past is shrouded in mystery"
a person or thing whose identity or nature is puzzling or unknown.
o He's a bit of a mystery, said Nina
2. A novel, short story, play, or movie dealing with a puzzling crime, especially a murder.
synonyms:
thriller, murder mystery, detective story/novel, murder story, crime novel;
informal: whodunit
o reading a classical mystery
Definition Horror
1. An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.
"children screamed in horror"
synonyms: terror, fear, fright, alarm, panic; More
2. A thing causing a feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.
plural noun: horrors
"photographs showed the horror of the tragedy"
synonyms: awfulness, frightfulness, savagery, barbarity, hideousness; More
3. A literary or film genre concerned with arousing feelings of horror.
"a horror movie"
4. Intense dismay.
"to her horror she found that a thief had stolen the machine"
synonyms: dismay, consternation, perturbation, alarm, distress; More
5. An attack of extreme nervousness or anxiety.
plural noun: horrors; plural noun: the horrors
"the mere thought of it gives me the horrors"
Examples of Mystery and Horror

1. What are some books (or films) that you have read (or seen) that are mysteries? (Sherlock
Holmes, The Da Vinci Code, Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, The Lovely Bones, Miss
Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children.) What made these mysteries?
2. What are some books (or films) that you have read (or seen) that are horror? Now, if you
answer, Im not looking for gory details. (Vampire Academy, Twilight, Warm Bodies, Coraline,
Anna Dressed in Blood.) What made these horrors?
3. What similarities and differences do you see in these two genres?
Definition Synesthesia
1. The production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation
of another sense or part of the body.
o Examples: The sun is silent, a warm color, the taste of childhood, or a loud
outfit.
Writers employ this device to be creative in communicating their ideas to the readers. It makes
their ideas more vivid and adds more layers of meaning to a text for the readers pleasure. By
blending different senses, writers make their works more interesting and appealing.
Students will complete the Jelly Belly Synesthesia activity. As a precursor to how Poe uses
description students will compose a creative text and consider using all of their senses as well as
synesthesia. Students will each be given a package of Jelly Bellys. They will fill out a
worksheet that describes the Jelly Belly using their five senses. They will then use synesthesia to
describe the different flavors through touch, smell, sight, or sound as well as experiences that
correlate with each of the descriptions.

Students will each be given a package of Jelly Bellys (12 oz. bag with approximately 11 beans).
A. Describe the Jelly Belly using as many senses as you can. Consider taste, touch, smell,
sound, and feeling. Choose 3 of your ten Jelly Bellies and write a synesthetic feeling about
these three. Place a star next to the number where you feel you used synesthesia.
B. What connections do you make with the each of the Jelly Belly beans? Name at least one
memory that you can link to these senses.
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Flavors:

A&W Cream Soda

A&W Root Beer
Berry Blue
Blueberry
Bubble Gum
Buttered Popcorn
Cantaloupe
Cappuccino
Caramel Corn
Chili Mango
Chocolate Pudding
Cinnamon
Coconut
Cotton Candy
Crushed Pineapple
Dr Pepper
French Vanilla

Green Apple
Island Punch
Juicy Pear
Kiwi
Lemon Drop
Lemon Lime
Licorice
Mango
Margarita
Mixed Berry Smoothie
Orange Sherbet
Peach
Pia Colada
Plum
Pomegranate
Raspberry

Red Apple
Sizzling Cinnamon
Sour Cherry
Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Daiquiri
Strawberry Jam
Sunkist Lemon
Sunkist Lime
Sunkist Orange
Sunkist Pink Grapefruit
Sunkist Tangerine
Toasted Marshmallow
Top Banana
Tutti-Fruitti
Very Cherry
Watermelon
Wild Blackberry

Day 2 - Edgar Allan Poe Biography

Edgar Allan Poe (born January 19, 1809 October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet,
editor, and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known
for his tales of mystery and the macabre (definition: disturbing and horrifying because of
involvement with or depiction of death and injury), Poe was one of the earliest American
practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered the inventor of the detective
fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science
fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing
alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

Born in Boston, Poe was the second child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in
1810, and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John
and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia. Although they never formally adopted him, Poe
was with them well into young adulthood. Tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar
repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of
secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one
semester but left due to lack of money. Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his
education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at this time his
publishing career began, albeit humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane
and Other Poems (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian". With the death of Frances Allan in
1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement. Later failing as an officer's cadet at
West Point and declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, Poe parted ways with John
Allan.

Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals
and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him
to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In
Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845 Poe
published his poem, "The Raven", to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years
after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal, The Penn
(later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849,
at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously
attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide,
tuberculosis, and other agents.

Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as
in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear
throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television.

Discussion: We will be reading selected works throughout this unit by Edgar Allan Poe.
Why did I choose this author? What are some works that you already know by Poe? What

elements does he use to write successful mystery and horror texts? How do you think his life
experiences will affect his writing and what we will be reading?

Day 3 - Mini Lesson - Prepositional Phrases

A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun is called a
prepositional phrase.

The noun or pronoun that follows the preposition is called the object of the preposition.

Example: They began their project with good intentions. [Intentions is the object
of the preposition with.]

Prepositional phrases can act as adjectives.

Example: Have you ever had a room with a view? [With a view modifies the noun
room.]

A. Identifying Prepositional Phrases

Circle the prepositional phrases in the following titles of poems by Edgar Allan Poe.
o
o
o
o

The City in the Sea

A Dream Within A Dream
For Annie
Spirits of the Dead

B. Using Prepositional Phrases

Rewrite the sentences below. Make the word in parentheses the object of a prepositional
phrase and insert the phrase into the sentence. Then write whether the phrase is working as an
adjective.

1. The bells rang yesterday afternoon. (wedding)

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______2. Even though the raven made me distraught, I seemed better the next morning. (day)
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3. The bells rang seven times. (death)

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4. Although the raven fluttered, he was calm when his turn came to answer the question.
(chamber door)
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5. The bust of Pallas was the most expensive relic. (chamber)

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Day 4

Beauty, love, and loss in Edgar Allan Poes Poetry

Poe may be better known for his poems of longing for a lost love than for those on any other
subject. He works various modulations on the theme. The woman may personify the pure
classical beauty of ancient Greece and Rome (To Helen), or she may represent some
version of the popular nineteenth century theme of the sleeping beauty who may never
awaken (The Sleeper). The speaker in the poem may be a surviving husband or lover
(Annabel Lee), or he may himself be dead or recovering from a brush with death (For
Annie). The poem may be totally taken up with longing for the lost love (To One in
Paradise), or her loss may provide an excuse to treat another subject (such as the
relationship of body and soul, in Ulalume). Finally, the poem may be an intensely personal
monologue, like several already named, or it may take the form of a dialogue or brief drama
where two speakers debate how the dead should be mourned (Lenore).

Whatever the mode of treatment, Poes poetry (as well as his stories) makes clear that the
death of a beautiful woman was for him the supremely interesting subject, since, if ideal
beauty is ultimately unattainable, it follows that the most appropriate tone of a poem is
melancholy, and certainly there can be no subject more melancholy than the loss of beauty
through death.

The autobiographical element in this mixture must be noticed, whatever cautions have to be
added in interpreting its appearance in an art form. Poe lost his mother as a young child and
was not close to his stepmother. At fifteen, an older woman whom he loved as a combination
of mother and romantic lover died (she was the mother of a friend), and his age undoubtedly
made the loss all the more traumatic for him. He watched his wife die a horrible death from
tuberculosis, and during the last two years of his life, he was declaring his love to several
women almost simultaneously. One of these women had been widowed by a man whom she
had married years before instead of Poe.

It will not do, of course, to assume that the sole or even chief explanation of these poems
meaning is the frequency with which Poe himself experienced such loss. The importance of
any theme in a writers work is not how it reflects the events of his life but what meaning it
has for him in the work itself. In Poes case, the meaning centers on the ways in which the
loss can be made to embody the effects of yearning for supernal beauty: thus the frequency in
these particular poems of memories, dreams, prophetic visions of the future, and of other
expressions of the need to transcend earthly concerns and achieve illumination (however
partial) in an imagined land of perfect beauty and truth. Very often the lost woman inhabits a
kind of twilight zone, and the speaker in the poem, acting as mourner, guards her memory
here on Earth while re-creating the effects of the realm of spiritualized beauty that the
beloved now presumably inhabits.

Ulalume (additional info for those interested in using the poem for the summative
assessment)

The poem that most fully reveals Poes typical treatment of this theme is Ulalume, written near the
end of his life. He wrote Ulalume to be recited aloud (as he did Annabel Lee and The Bells),
which undoubtedly explains the somewhat obvious repetition of certain words, especially rhyme
words, and the great emphasis on regularity of rhythm found in the poem.

It is autumn of a particularly important year, the speakers most immemorial year. He wanders with
his Soul through a semireal, semi-imaginary landscape characterized by gloominess, but also by
images of titanic struggle. As he so often does, Poe here provides a vivid sense of spiritual extremity
without identifying its cause. He is more interested, especially at the beginning, in emotional effect
than in analysis, since his initial need is to transport the reader to another level of consciousness.
Neither the speaker nor his Soul notes the time of year, however, because they are concentrating so
intensely on their inward gloom. The strange landscape through which they travel affects them like
the music of Auber or the magic colors in the paintings of Robert Weir. Poe knew that his
contemporaries would recognize the artists to whom he referred; thus he could call in his aid his
readers awareness of certain musical and painterly effects to complement the aural effects of the
recited words.

As the night advances, two brilliant lights appear in the sky: One is Diana, the Moon, and the other is
Venus. (In Poes poetry, the Moon is always colder and more distant than Venus, probably
because the haziness of Venus in the sky could more easily symbolize the vague outlines of ideal
beauty.) Here, Venus observes sympathetically that the speaker still mourns the loss of someone, so
the goddess of love has risen in the sky to lead the mourner to a Lethean peace of the skies. The
Soul mistrusts Venus, but the speaker urges them to go on, guided by this tremulous light. This
seems to be a variation on Poes favorite idea that the realm of ideal beauty will somehow be a better
guide, a surer inspiration for human beings, than will the transient beauties of this world. The speaker
therefore pacifies his Soul with soothing words, and they proceed on to the end of the vista (a line
emphasizing Poes concern that his readers see this landscape as one in a painting), where they find a
tomb. On the door is written the name of his lost love: Ulalume. The speaker now remembers that it

was on this very night of the previous fall that he journeyed herenot with his Soul but with the
body of his beloved. What demon has tempted me to come here again? he wonders. He can offer
only a tentative answer: that the spirits guarding this place have some greater secret than this to hide.
They have therefore created this spectre of a planet (Venus) to mislead earthly beings.

If this secret is the nature of the Souls existence in the realm of ideal beauty, as seems likely, then
Ulalume offers one of Poes last comments on the difficulty of reaching that realm. Thus the poem
ends not with an answer but with a question. The ultimate human tragedy would be to have to give up
hope of ever finding ideal beauty. Even the Soul as companion on the quest is not sufficient guarantee
of finding it, for the Soul fears confronting the truth. Poes poems on the loss of a beautiful woman
are important, then, not only for their articulation of the theme of ideal beauty but also for the theme
of the imaginary landscape that embodies and controls the means of the search.

Day 5 - Elements of a Short Story

A short story is a short work of fiction. Fiction, as you know, is prose writing about imagined
events and characters. Prose writing differs from poetry in that it does not depend on verses,
meters or rhymes for its organization and presentation.
Novels are another example of fictional prose and are much longer than short stories. Some
short stories, however, can be quite long. If a short story is a long one, say fifty to one
hundred pages, we call it a novella.
American literature contains some of the world's best examples of the short story. Readers
around the world enjoy the finely crafted stories of American writers such as O. Henry,
Stephen Crane, Jack London, Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe.
What makes these authors such remarkable short story writers? They are true masters at
combining the five key elements that go into every great short story: character, setting,
conflict, plot and theme.
Character: A character is a person, or sometimes even an animal, who takes part in the
action of a short story or other literary work.
Setting: The setting of a short story is the time and place in which it happens. Authors often
use descriptions of landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong
sense of setting.
Plot: A plot is a series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict.

Conflict: The conflict is a struggle between two people or things in a short story. The main
character is usually on one side of the central conflict.
On the other side, the main character may struggle against another important character,
against the forces of nature, against society, or even against something inside himself or
herself (feelings, emotions, illness).
Theme: The theme is the central idea or belief in a short story.
Definitions:
1. The subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.
2. A major theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his work, making it the most significant
idea in a literary work. A minor theme, on the other hand, refers to an idea that appears in
a work briefly and gives way to another minor theme. Examples of theme in Jane
Austens Pride and Prejudice are matrimony, love, friendship, and affection.
It is important not to confuse a theme of a literary work with its subject. Subject is a topic
which acts as a foundation for a literary work while a theme is an opinion expressed on the
subject. For example, a writer may choose a subject of war for his story and the theme of a
story may be writers personal opinion that war is a curse for humanity. Usually, it is up to
the readers to explore a theme of a literary work by analyzing characters, plot and other
literary devices.
Day 6

1. What do you think Montresors motivation is for killing Fortunato? What do you think
Montresor means in the 1st paragraph of the story by the thousand injuries and insult?

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2. How does Poe motivate the behavior of Montresor? Does the story provide any hints as to
the thousand injuries he has suffered (cite the text)? Are any hints necessary?

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3. Who do you suppose the You is in the 1st paragraph of the story?

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4. Why do you suppose Poe sets this story during the carnival season?

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5. Why is the setting of the story appropriate?

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6. What does Montresors treatment of his house servants tell us about his knowledge of human
psychology, and how does it prepare us for his treatment of Fortunato?

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7. Examine Montresors verbal and non-verbal strategies of initially engaging Fortunato and
then luring him along throughout the story.

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8. What do you suppose Montresor means when he says, You are rich, respected, admired,
beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter?

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9. Discuss Montresors familys coat-of-arms and motto.

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10. Discuss the references to the brotherhood and the masons.

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11. Discuss the section when Montresor is erecting the wall to entomb Fortunato, especially both
Fortunatos and Montresors sounds, words, and movements.

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12. How does Poe increase the elements of suspense as Fortunato is gradually walled into the
catacombs?

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13. Examine the very last paragraph of the story especially (1) the phrase, My heart grew sick
and (2) the very last sentence.

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14. Do you see any irony in the story?

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Day 6 - Mini Lesson - Infinitive Phrases in our Poe Unit

Infinitives are the basic form of a verb preceded by the word to, without an inflection
binding it to a particular subject or tense (e.g., see in we came to see). Infinitives can be used
as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Today the focus is infinitive phrases connecting with verbs.

To swim is prohibited. [The infinitive to swim is used as a subject.]

Andrew loves to paint. [The infinitive to paint is used as a direct object.]
She had a longing to escape. [The infinitive to escape is used as an adjective.]
He was too mad to speak. [The infinitive to speak is used as an adverb.]
Infinitive phrases include an infinitive plus all modifiers and complements.
It is easiest to get there by plane.

A. Together as a Class: Identifying Infinitives and Infinitive Phrases:

Lets underline the infinitives and infinitive phrases in the following sentences.
1. To get to the town, first you have to take a ship and then you have to take a bus.
2. Is it really better to look before you leap?
3. She wanted to try out for the volleyball team, but she learned that in order to do that she
had to have a B average.
4. They had initially decided to go mountain climbing but feared they were too out of shape
to try it.
5. They have always wanted to go to Germany to see if they could find their relatives.
6. Here the writer tried to develop an unusual image in the readers mind.
7. When Patrick was late, his friends decided to leave without her.
8. To win the prize will require extraordinary effort.
9. When they travel, his parents like to visit historical places.
10. If you do not want to drive in the city, you will need to take the bus.

B. Using Infinitives: Rewrite the following sentences by changing the bold words to
infinitives.
1. Getting there by car is almost impossible.
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2. My aunt Mattie really likes swimming in the Atlantic in December.
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3. Listening well is a skill worth cultivating.
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4. I have decided that approaching him is more trouble than it is worth.
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5. Florence began taking lessons at the age of five.
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The Tell-Tale Heart Sample: On your own underline the Infinitives and Infinitive Phrases
Have I not told you that my hearing had become unusually strong? Now I could hear a quick,
low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall. It was the beating of the old
mans heart. I tried to stand quietly. But the sound grew louder. The old mans fear must have
been great indeed. And as the sound grew louder my anger became greater and more painful.
But it was more than anger. In the quiet night, in the dark silence of the bedroom my anger
became
fear for the heart was beating so loudly that I was sure someone must hear. The time had
come! I rushed into the room, crying, Die! Die! The old man gave a loud cry of fear as I
fell upon him and held the bedcovers tightly over his head. Still his heart was beating; but I
smiled as I felt that success was near. For many minutes that heart continued to beat; but at
last the beating stopped. The old man was dead. I took away the bedcovers and held my ear
over his heart. There was no sound. Yes. He was dead! Dead as a stone. His eye would
trouble me no more!

Day 7

So I am mad, you say? You should have seen how careful I was to put the body where no one
could find it. First I cut off the head, then the arms and the legs. I was careful not to let a
single drop of blood fall on the floor. I pulled up three of the boards that formed the floor,
and put the pieces of the body there. Then I put the boards down again, carefully, so carefully
that no human eye could see that they had been moved.
As I finished this work I heard that someone was at the door. It was now four oclock in the
morning, but still dark. I had no fear, however, as I went down to open the door. Three men
were at the door, three officers of the police. One of the neighbors had heard the old mans
cry and had called the police; these three had come to ask questions and to search the house.
I asked the policemen to come in. The cry, I said, was my own, in a dream. The old man, I
said, was away; he had gone to visit a friend in the country. I took them through the whole
house, telling them to search it all, to search well. I led them finally into the old mans
bedroom.
As if playing a game with them I asked them to sit down and talk for a while.
The Black Cat

The Tell-Tale Heart

Both

The

Read each of the sentences below describing aspects of The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart.
In the Venn-Diagram place the number that correlates with the statement into section where it belongs
above. On the back of this sheet give textual evidence as to why you placed the statement in the
specific part of the Venn-Diagram.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

The narrator is haunted by his deviant action (Both)

The narrator is self-congratulatory (BC)
The narrator is facing execution for his crimes (T-TH)
The text continually builds in tension until its climax (T-TH)
The events of the story that are narrated cover several years (BC)
The narrator blames alcohol for his actions (BC)
The narrator is unreliable and his sanity is questionable. (Both)
The eye is a significant symbol in the story (Both)
It is unclear whether the narrators own guilt has led to his downfall or if a supernatural event has
taken place (T-TH)
The cruelty of the narrator is emphasized (BC)
Poe uses silence and stillness to build tension (T-TH)
The story has moments of dark humor (BC)
The narrator claims to suffer from an illness that makes the sense more acute (T-TH)
There is something morally satisfying about the storys ending (Both)
The narrators motives for committing his crimes are unclear (Both)

The narrator is haunted by his deviant action

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The narrator is self-congratulatory

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The narrator is facing execution for his crimes

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The text continually builds in tension until its climax

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The events of the story that are narrated, cover several years

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The narrator blames alcohol for his actions

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The narrator is unreliable and his sanity is questionable.

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The eye is a significant symbol in the story

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It is unclear whether the narrators own guilt has led to his downfall or if a supernatural event has taken place

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The cruelty of the narrator is emphasized

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Poe uses silence and stillness to build tension

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The story has moments of dark humor

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The narrator claims to suffer from an illness that makes the sense more acute

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There is something morally satisfying about the storys ending

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The narrators motives for committing his crimes are unclear

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Day 8 Spanish Inquisition

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, commonly known as the Spanish
Inquisition, was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and
Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to
replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under Papal control. It became the most
substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition along with
the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition.

The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who
converted from Judaism and Islam. This regulation of the faith of the newly converted was
intensified after the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and Muslims to
convert or leave Spain.

Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs' decision to found the Inquisition such
as increasing political authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from
confiscation of the property of convicted heretics, reducing social tensions, and protecting the
kingdom from the danger of a fifth column.

The body was under the direct control of the Spanish monarchy. It was not definitively
abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II, after a period of declining influence in
the previous century.

The Spanish Inquisition is often cited in literature and history as an example of Catholic
intolerance and repression. Modern historians have tended to question earlier and possibly
exaggerated accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition. Although records are
incomplete, estimates of the number of persons charged with crimes by the Inquisition range
up to 150,000 with 2,000 to 5,000 people actually executed.

Torture

As with all European tribunals of the time, torture was employed. The Spanish inquisition,
however, engaged in it far less often and with greater care than other courts. Historian Henry
Kamen contends that some "popular" accounts of the inquisition (those that describe scenes
of uncontrolled sadistic torture) are not based in truth. Kamen argues that torture was only
ever used to elicit information or a confession, not for punitive reasons. Modern
scholars[who?] have determined that torture was used in two percent of the cases, and in less
than one percent of the cases was it used a second time, never more than that. The torture
lasted up to 15 minutes.

Although the Inquisition was technically forbidden from permanently harming or drawing
blood, this still allowed several methods of torture. The methods most used, and common in
other secular and ecclesiastical tribunals, were garrucha, toca and the potro. The application
of the garrucha, also known as the strappado, consisted of suspending the victim from the
ceiling by the wrists, which are tied behind the back. Sometimes weights were tied to the
ankles, with a series of lifts and drops, during which the arms and legs suffered violent pulls
and were sometimes dislocated. The toca, also called interrogatorio mejorado del agua,
consisted of introducing a cloth into the mouth of the victim, and forcing them to ingest
water spilled from a jar so that they had the impression of drowning (see: waterboarding).
The potro, the rack, was the instrument of torture used most frequently.

The assertion that "confessionem esse veram, non factam vi tormentorum" (literally: [a
person's] confession is truth, not made by way of torture) sometimes follows a description of
how, after torture had ended, the subject freely confessed to the offenses. Thus confessions
following torture were deemed to be made of the confessor's free will, and hence valid.

Once the process concluded, the inquisidores met with a representative of the bishop and
with the consultores, experts in theology or Canon Law, which was called the consulta de fe.
The case was voted and sentence pronounced, which had to be unanimous. In case of
discrepancies, the Suprema had to be informed.

According to authorities within the Eastern Orthodox Church, there was at least one casualty
tortured by those "Jesuits" (though most likely, Franciscans) who administered the Spanish
Inquisition in North America: St. Peter the Aleut.

Day 10 - Poe, Jupiter, and Racism in The Gold-Bug

Many interpreters of Poe understand the characterization of Jupiter as a by-product of

Southern racism.
"Poe took particular satisfaction in his characterization of Legrand's manumitted black
servant Jupiter, which he considered a "perfect picture... no feature overshaded, or distorted."
This meant depicting him as superstitious and stupid, unable to tell his left eye from his right,
(It is my lef hand what I chops de wood wid) . Poe opposed abolition, and identified with
slave-holding interests in the South, whom he felt Northern writers misrepresented. Although
in no way consumed with racial hatred, he considered blacks less than human - as did many
other Americans in the 1840's - therefore "utterly incompetent to fell the moral gall of their
chain." (Silverman, p.207)
Undoubtedly, Poe was an elitist. His superiority included a disdain for other races, yet, there
is more to Jupiter than a comedic figure used to poke fun at an oppressed minority. Just as the
narrator and Legrand embody the ego consciousness and Self, Jupiter represents the instincts.
While these instincts can at times be dim-witted, they are loyal and determined to serve the
adventure in their own way.
Jupiter was a free man after the abolition of slavery. He chose to attend his former master as
an indentured servant. He freely undertook the task of caring for Legrand. While this may
indicate the inability to adapt to freedom, it could also suggest a wisdom concerning himself
and his abilities. Jupiter is in this respect more reality-based than his master appears to be. In
addition to being more humble, he is also more fearful, more loving, and more open to the
supernatural than the narrator or Legrand.
For all his apparent "stupidity", Jupiter played a central role in the discovery and
interpretation of the Gold-Bug:
"Jupiter, with his accustomed caution, before seizing the insect, which had flown towards
him, looked about him for a leaf, or something of that nature, by which to take hold of it. It
was at this moment that his eyes, and mine also, fell upon the scrap of parchment, which I
then supposed to be paper. ... Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment, wrapped the beetle in it,
and gave it to me."
The Gold-Bug flew toward Jupiter, as if attracted to him. Could it be that the instinctive
nature of Jupiter had something to do with this attraction? Even Jupiter's frightened response
was contributory to the story. In fear, he sought a leaf or a piece of paper to pick up the bug;
in doing so, he unwittingly wrapped the bug in Captain Kidd's treasure map and cipher.It was
Jupiter who climbed the tree. If the tree is a symbol of spiritual ascent, as some interpreters
suggest, then Poe is making the point that there comes a time when the instincts do the work
that the mind finds repugnant.

"When we reached the tree, Legrand turned to Jupiter, and asked him if he thought he could
climb it. The old man seemed a little staggered by the question, and for some moments made
no reply. At length he approached the huge trunk , walked slowly around it, and examined it
with minute attention. When he completed his scrutiny he merely said, " Yes mass, Jup climb
any tree he ebber see in he life."
Paradoxically, limited as he is by literalism, Jupiter understands the meaning of the
scarabaeus before Legrand. He believes the "goole bug" is solid gold. Symbolically he is
absolutely correct. The finding of the bug did translate into hard cold cash for Legrand.
Jupiter was wise enough to fear being bit by the goole bug. He made the connection between
Legrand's discovery of the insect and his inordinate obsession with wealth. From the rational
point of view, Jupiter's actions and interpretations are nonsense. But from the deeper
structure of the tale there is evidence that the instincts have a language of their own that
contributed to the discovery process. Poe gave Jup the language of instincts, which is
comedic but also ironic, since Jup's language speaks more accurately than the eloquence of
Legrand. Confirming the fact that Jup speaks another language is the mistake Jupiter makes
in following Legrand's instructions, "to put the bug through the left eye hole of the human
scull." Jup gets left and right mixed up. The left side is traditionally the side of irrationality,
intuition and instinct - Jup was so determined by this perspective that he had a hard time not
seeing it as logical, that is of the right side. Whether intentionally, or not, the name Jupiter is
a celestial counterpoint to Legrand. The planet is mythologically understood as representing a
beneficent largesse. Jup generously gave of himself for the benefit of his "massa Will".
Another Negro, representative of the instincts, plays a pivotal role in the discovery of the
Gold-Bug. When Legrand was attempting to find the Bishop's hostel, he asks an old Negro
woman if there was a hotel or hostel which fit the description. Through her folk wisdom, he
learns that the Bishop's Hostel is actually Beesop's Castle which was not a tavern or a hotel
but a high rock (p. 379.) While Legrand summarily dismisses her, as he does so often with
his slave Jup, he in fact owed the central piece of interpretation to her instinctual
consciousness.

Day 11 - Biography Poem

How to Write a Biopoem

(Line 1) First name

(Line 2) Three or four adjectives that describe the person

(Line 3) Important relationship (daughter of . . . , mother of . . . , etc)

(Line 4) Two or three things, people, or ideas that the person loved

(Line 5) Three feelings the person experienced

(Line 6) Three fears the person experienced

(Line 7) Accomplishments (who composed . . . , who discovered . . . , etc.)

(Line 8) Two or three things the person wanted to see happen or wanted to experience

(Line 9) His or her residence

(Line 10) Last name

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

Biopoem Sample

Edgar

Suspenseful, poetic, depressing

Husband of Virgina Clemm, son of Elizabeth Poe and Frances Allan

Who loved dark humor, horror, and mystery

Who hated rejection, loss, and wasted beauty

Who feared insanity, loneliness, and death

Who influenced literature with his poems and short stories

Who wanted to produce his own journal, see love that did not end in death, and find a bottle that had
no bottom

Born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Baltimore, Maryland

Poe

(Line 1) First name

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 2) Three or four adjectives that describe the person

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 3) Important relationship (daughter of . . . , mother of . . . , etc)

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 4) Two or three things, people, or ideas that the person loved

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 5) Three feelings the person experienced

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 6) Three fears the person experienced

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 7) Accomplishments (who composed . . . , who discovered . . . , etc.)

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 8) Two or three things the person wanted to see happen or wanted to experience

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 9) His or her residence

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

(Line 10) Last name (or name you would give them)

_________________________________________________________________________________
____

Appositives are placed next to other nouns and pronouns and give extra or identifying information about them.

Example: My dog, Ariel, is an Australian shepherd.

Appositives of more than one word are called appositive phrases.

Day 12 - Mini Lesson - Appositive Phrases

Example: His fiance, a civil engineer, was transferred.

An appositive should be set off with commas unless it is necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

Example: Toni Morrisons novel The Bluest Eye has been the topic of such serious discussion. [Since
Morrison has written more than one novel, the appositive is necessary to the meaning of the sentence.]

A. Identifying Appositives and Appositive Phrases

Underline the appositives and appositive phrases in the following sentences.

1. Meredith decided to major in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.

2. The San Andreas fault, a fracture in the earths crust, is the focus of intense geologic study.

3. The policy was begun by Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States.

4. The movie Chariots of Fire is still one of my favorites.

5. Jays friend Charles wants to train to be a pilot.

6. Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream recently was made into a film.

B. Using Appositives and Appositive Phrases

Rewrite sentence, adding an appositive or appositive phrase. Use commas where necessary.

1. Chicago can be overwhelming if you are uncomfortable in large metropolitan areas.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Stephen likes to ride horses when he visits his grandparents farm.

______________________________________________________________________________

3. His sister won the best actress award.

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Many people do not realize that Panama is in the same time zone as New York City.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Day 12 - Cryptography Worksheet The Caesar Shift

Julius Caesar used a simple substitution Cipher to send messages to his troops. He used a
very simple rule to replace each letter with another letter from the alphabet. He substituted
each letter by the letter that was 3 places further along in the alphabet, so that a was
replaced with D, b with E and so on.

Complete the table below to show what each letter is enciphered as using this system.

c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

F

Using the Caesar Cipher, encode the name of your school. Check that you get the same code
as the person sat next to you.

How easy is it for someone who intercepts a secret message written using this cipher to work
out the original message? Is there any way to make it harder to work out?

Although Caesar substituted each letter with the letter 3 places ahead, there are other
variations of this cipher. You could shift each letter by 4 or 5 or 6 etc. This is called a key,
and depending on which key you use, you will get a different message.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Get into pairs and use the Caesar Shift to change the alphabet.
Ask a question pertaining to The Gold-Bug and translate it using your Caesar Shift.
Exchange with another pair that has finished and decode their question.
Answer the question with cited evidence.
Translate your answer into their Caesar Shift code and return it to the pair.(That group will
translate the answer to ensure accuracy.)
6. Check the answer to the question that you posed.

Day 13 Images