Blogger #13 - Angel Huang - Period 9 - 10/20/21
Aim: What condition of life does the dénouement of “The Masque of the Red Death” reveal?
Mask project: The mask represents how you feel as in, we are all technically in the green stage. In this project, we are allowed creative freedom to express how we feel mentally. For example, Ms. Peterson’s foster daughter would feel older than the green teenager stage because she went through 11 foster homes within 4 years.
Do Now: TEAM DISCUSSION THEN WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION
What influence does an apocalyptic event (devastating plague) seem to have on the nature of mankind and the collective society?
It can bring people together because people realized that they must work together to get through the apocalyptic event. They also now have a big similarity which is that they have gone through the same apocalyptic event. For example, during the start COVID-19 pandemic, many people panicked and started hoarding toilet paper and other necessities. As the pandemic continued, friends and family became more connected and shared these valuables so that everyone would be safe and make it out of the pandemic happy and healthy. Some examples of apocalyptic events that made people come together are Hurricane Sandy and 9/11.
Why do people tend to be investigators, when they hear a story, view a show or movie?
In these situations, people get suspicious to just trust the information given. In addition, people are just naturally curious. There’s this quote “Curiosity killed the cat” but there’s a punchline because a cat has 9 lives.
1) Which ending did you select? Why?
My group believes that ending 3 is the accurate one. This is because as we know from the story, people go through the stages of life represented by 7 different colored rooms. The most reasonable ending would be ending 3 because it is to prove that those are the stages of life. Everyone’s life ends at some point. As prince Prospero dies, this creates a theme that death is inevitable.
2) Elucidate why the ending you chose is the correct ending. Remember to call upon the clues offered in the story to support your answer.
To continue supporting my statement, ending 1 was happy. This doesn’t make sense because it was written by Poe. Poe is mostly known for his macabre writing. Ending 3 matched all the details from the previous sections leading us to believe that ending 3 is the real ending.
The other group’s responses
Group 1: Ending number 3 is the correct ending as there are many clues of foreshadowing in the story that validated its factuality. Endings 1 and 2 did not correspond with the theme presented in the story. Ending number 3 accurately portrayed the 7 stages of life and concluded with death.
Group 2: We believe that ending 3 is the real ending as the other two endings came from nowhere and doesn’t fit with the foreshadowing from previous scenes. There was no mention of anything about the princes’ father or brother. Everything had been foreshadowing to the red death so having two sudden new characters added in would make no sense or continuity
Group 3:We think that ending #3 is the correct ending because of the language used and the other endings do not match the rest of the story. The symbolism in the earlier parts of the story remains unresolved in the other two endings. For example the Red Death is a very prevalent theme, but in the first and second endings it is barely mentioned and does not end the story. Therefore we believe that the third ending is correct.
Group 4: We believe that the 3rd ending is the real ending because the first two endings were random and introduced random characters that wouldn't be important to the plot. While the last ending was significant and was foreshadowed through previous paragraphs that a masked figure would eventually appear and take action. Death was inevitable for the Prince compared to how it was revenge in the second ending which doesn't fit right.
Group 5:We believe that the third ending was the right ending. We say this because the language usage in the third ending matched the story the best. An example of that can be when the text states, “He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.” In addition the ending referred to the order of the room and the symbolism that we talked about the last few lessons were all brought up.
Group 6: Ending 3 is correct because it references the clock, specifically when death reaches the characters. Furthermore, the prince hurrying from each room in order is symbolic of the passing of time and the ultimate end of all things superficial, further enforcing the theme that nothing lasts forever. Also, in this particular ending, the figure is not a specific person but more so is symbolic of the red death, hence the name.
All the teams were able to figure out the right ending using different clues. They were able to use their background knowledge of the story and figure out which ending matched the most. I realized how every group got to the same conclusion using different clues and methods. All of our group responses were submitted to a padlet so that we could compare and have a class discussion. During the class discussion. Ms. Peterson said ending 1 was not correct because Poe lived a tragic life and that he doesn’t write happy endings. The second ending wasn’t right because the ending didn’t really match the parts we read. They added a cousin into the plot towards the end which didn’t really make sense. This made us believe that ending 3 was the best choice.
Team discussion and then class discussion
What is your understanding of the concept/role of “fate”?
Fate is already written and can’t be changed. You cannot escape fate. The example Ms. Peterson gave the three fates of mythology. They were named Clotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Alloter), and Atropos (Inflexible). They controlled the threads of life and represented 3 different stages of life
Youtube video on the Three Fates of Mythology
Could Man vs. Fate, be considered a viable conflict of “The Masque of the Red Death”? Explain your response.
Man vs. Fate is considered a viable conflict because the conflict here is that death is inevitable. Everything will come to an end no matter what. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Prince Prospero tried everything to escape death. In the end, death still found him proving that this is a viable conflict. As soon as they locked themselves in the castle, they sealed their fate.
Provide two examples that support “Man’s fear of death” as a theme of this story.
In the “The Masque of the Red Death”, Prince Prospero tried to lock himself into the castle with his wealthy friends to prevent the red death from entering. He gathered up all the wealthy people and tried to keep them all safe. The second example that proves the theme “Man’s fear of death” is when Prince Prospero runs through all the rooms away from the red death. He ends up in the black and scarlet room where he died.
Part 2
Recap of all the info
- A series of 7 rooms, all in different colors representing the stages of life (blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, black/scarlet)
- The decorations matched the room
- Black window panes are blood red
- Huge grandfather clock in the black room (countdown of death)
- East to west - signifying the life cycle
- Projected symbolism - without the intent, reader draws the symbols
- Intended symbolism - author intends to make things symbolic
- Clock symbolizes death, reality, lives slowly ticking away
- Prince Prospero’s name meaning- wealthy
- He is arrogant and hoarded all the wealthy people to be kept safe; left the poorer people out to die
- He thinks he could cheat the fate of death
- He thought he could buy his way out of death
- Masquerade - fantasy
- Effect of changing colors of the room causes a dream-like effect
- Masked figure - death; specifically the red death
Examples of Symbolism
Symbolism Video
Masque of the Red Death summary/symbolism
In today’s lesson, the main thing I learned is that death is inevitable. In Prince Prospero’s case, he tried everything to escape death. He first realized that the red death was killing people so he locked himself in a castle with the wealthy people. After he realized that the red death has come into his “safe space”, he begins to panic and run through all 7 rooms. This is his second attempt at running away from death. Eventually, Prince Prospero reaches the black room with the blood red window panes. He and all of his peers get killed. This is where the theme comes from. I believe this is a pretty important theme to learn and understand as I grow and learn. Sometimes things are just meant to be and I can’t do anything to stop it. We just have to live life to its fullest without being scared of death because we know that one day we will die. I think this is just my perception but I also feel that this theme teaches me to not worry and stress about things that might not matter in the long run. We have to be happy and healthy for as long as fate wants us to. I also found fate as a really interesting topic today. I never really understood fate as well as I do now. I did external research on the three fates of Greek mythology and now I think I have a better understanding of fate in general. In addition, I enjoyed learning about symbolism. We learned about two types; Intended and Projected. I feel like in my writing I rarely have intended symbolism which I’ll have to work on. Many of my peers see projected symbolism in my writing which is interesting. I never knew this term but now I understand what it is. I liked today’s activity on trying to figure out the ending because this is a different approach then I’m used to. In eighth grade, I did an author study on Edgar Allan Poe but I never tried to put his writings together. This gives me a more in depth understanding because I actually have to think about his style of writing and the plot whereas in the past I would do them separately. Overall, I really enjoyed today’s lesson. I learned plenty of lessons including that death is inevitable.
- The decorations matched the room
- Black window panes are blood red
- Huge grandfather clock in the black room (countdown of death)
- East to west - signifying the life cycle
- Projected symbolism - without the intent, reader draws the symbols
- Intended symbolism - author intends to make things symbolic
- Clock symbolizes death, reality, lives slowly ticking away
- Prince Prospero’s name meaning- wealthy
- He is arrogant and hoarded all the wealthy people to be kept safe; left the poorer people out to die
- He thinks he could cheat the fate of death
- He thought he could buy his way out of death
- Masquerade - fantasy
- Effect of changing colors of the room causes a dream-like effect
- Masked figure - death; specifically the red death
Examples of Symbolism
Symbolism Video
Masque of the Red Death summary/symbolism
Reflection
In today’s lesson, the main thing I learned is that death is inevitable. In Prince Prospero’s case, he tried everything to escape death. He first realized that the red death was killing people so he locked himself in a castle with the wealthy people. After he realized that the red death has come into his “safe space”, he begins to panic and run through all 7 rooms. This is his second attempt at running away from death. Eventually, Prince Prospero reaches the black room with the blood red window panes. He and all of his peers get killed. This is where the theme comes from. I believe this is a pretty important theme to learn and understand as I grow and learn. Sometimes things are just meant to be and I can’t do anything to stop it. We just have to live life to its fullest without being scared of death because we know that one day we will die. I think this is just my perception but I also feel that this theme teaches me to not worry and stress about things that might not matter in the long run. We have to be happy and healthy for as long as fate wants us to. I also found fate as a really interesting topic today. I never really understood fate as well as I do now. I did external research on the three fates of Greek mythology and now I think I have a better understanding of fate in general. In addition, I enjoyed learning about symbolism. We learned about two types; Intended and Projected. I feel like in my writing I rarely have intended symbolism which I’ll have to work on. Many of my peers see projected symbolism in my writing which is interesting. I never knew this term but now I understand what it is. I liked today’s activity on trying to figure out the ending because this is a different approach then I’m used to. In eighth grade, I did an author study on Edgar Allan Poe but I never tried to put his writings together. This gives me a more in depth understanding because I actually have to think about his style of writing and the plot whereas in the past I would do them separately. Overall, I really enjoyed today’s lesson. I learned plenty of lessons including that death is inevitable.
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