(no subject)
SUMMARY
The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allen Poe, is the book that I will sociologically analyze. The book is about the narrator, Montresor, and his friend and enemy, Fortunato. Fortunato has done some sort of wrong upon Montresor, and he is looking for revenge. Montresor finds a very intoxicated Fortunato at a carnival. He lures him into his huge wine cellar / catacombs with promises of a very rare wine, Amontillado. Montresor shows him into a very small crevice where he proceeds to chain Fortunato to a wall, and then lays bricks over the crevice so Fortunato will never be found again, and die a very slow and painful death.
ANALYSIS
Social Institutions
Fortunato is being punished by Montresor because he has done wrong to him and his family. Fortunato has committed an act of dishonor upon the Montresors, damaging their social institution, which is the Montresor family. Montresor feels that his family cannot be disgraced like this, and to prove a point, he must get revenge on Fortunato.
Culture
Fortunato’s horrible fate begins when he performs the act against the Montresor family. We do not know exactly what this act is, Poe does not tell us. Fortunato violates a norm by committing this act. In this time, if you mess with the Montresor family, you die.
Deviance and Collective Behavior
Fortunato violates the norm, or committing the personal crime of committing the act against the Montresor family. Therefore he is subject to negative sanctions. He is lured into Montresor’s catacombs, not only to be tricked into thinking there was Amontillado down there, but the ultimate punishment of a painful death. Montresor himself acts of the agent of social control, chaining Fortunato to the wall and plastering the crevice closed. Because his punishment was so severe, he was apparently exhibiting deviant behavior. Also, from this, it is clear that Montresor was clarifying the norm that his himself and his family are not to be disrespected.
Socialization
Perhaps Montresor was just maintaining his perception of his family to others, according to Coolly’s Looking Glass Self Theory. He saw that if others were to see him as weak because of Fortunato, he must modify and maintain his reputation. Therefore, to set an example, he murdered Fortunato. He is altering the presentation of himself, or impression management.
Stratification
The Montresor family has an achieved status of a well known class of masons. Fortunato, however, comes from no particular class, but only a fool for wines. Montresor has achieved esteem from his long line of famous masonry family. From this, we can see why Montresor feels that Fortunato’s misdeed against his two different classes of families can not be tolerated. He feels that the lowly Fortunato can not just commit this against his prestigious family and get away with it.
Introduction to Sociology
The conflict perspective can be easily applied to this. There is social unrest between these two groups, the Montresor family and Fortunato. The misdeed was done, and tension rose between the two. After a period of time without penance, Montresor took the action of killing Fortunato to, in a way, end the conflict.
This is how fun college sociology is. I miss Mr. Leonard.