McDonough & Poe Leonidas

 The McDonough piece reminds me of the constant societal norms we encounter in everyday life. The norm of potentially getting into a car accident. The off shoots of that potentiality, such as the potential of killing the other driver, killing yourself, or killing others. Or the potentiality of high insurance rates, car damage, and the consequences of such. It also brings awareness of the aftermath of such events. Reading the poem, the reader can realize that yelling at the other person involved in the car accident is "normal". That it is just how society works. Upon further reading, it is easy to assume that "no, it is not normal" to blame, yell and cuss at the other person(s) involved in such accidents. We as a society through online videos and pop culture have allowed such to happen. Later on in the piece, a lesson is taught to readers. From this first person perspective, but in realization of the other person's perspective, the main character was a larger stature, angry, and almost physical and was threatening. This was a done in reaction. There was no rational thinking done to solve the issue of the car accident. However, the lesson taught to the audience is to be calm, be there for each other and not to act out reaction, but by logical thinking. The last paragraph at the end highlights how every one of those situations should be handled. 


Poe's The Cask of Amontillado is a much older version of McDonough's story. The main character, like the other story, is looking for revenge/reactionary action against Fortunato while he is drunk at a carnival. The main character is angry that Fortunato was talking poorly about him, and then decides to get him drunk together, offering drinks after drinks and speaking with Fortunato, trying to get him calm. The only difference between this piece and McDonough's is that Montresor follows through with his claim, and kills Fortunato. This is absolutely crazy, a reactionary decision based off of a moment where the main character was spoken poorly about. 

This then brings in a dynamic of two of the same events, but with drastic results. One ends happily and one ends horribly. Which brings up the idea that even though it may only be human to react out of illogical thoughts, we can not let that consume us to make us do things that shouldn't or would regret. If anger and reactionary emotions do take over, we have a societal duty to step back, take a deep breath, and think and to act properly.

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