preview

A & P And The Cask Of Amontillado Analysis

Decent Essays

In the Story "A & P" by John Updike and "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe show some similarities as well as some differences. Specifically it will identify a character in each story that analyze how different and how similar they are in both stories. The two main characters in the stories both seem to fit in quite well in their setting, and yet they both are have their own very different beliefs and morals. The entire meaning and core of these stories revolves around these two characters and their nonconformity, without them, the stories simply could not exist. In "A & P," Updike takes a character, Sammy and creates a heroic character that stands up for what he believes in. Sammy speaks out against the way his manager treated the girls in bathing suits. The girls never know it, and Sammy recognizes it is a fight that has changed his life. He thinks to himself, "My stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter" (Updike). Sammy stood up for what he believed in, but he may have picked the wrong reasons to be noble and "heroic." His decision is morally right, however, while the narrator in "The Cask of Amontillado" has much more sinister reasons for his nonconformity. He represents the evil side of not fitting in, while Sammy represents the good side of nonconformity. One of the reasons these two stories have so much impact is because of the main characters and their seeming conformity. It is clear the

Get Access