Essay on "Araby" and "Cask of Amontillado": a Comparison

The main connection between the two stories is that both protagonists were drawn towards a female character because they portrayed the superficial appeal of love and acceptance. In Araby, the boy was magnetized to the girl because he is a senior teenager who as all other teenagers is fascinated with the matter of sexuality. The author illustrated that boy has no way of eluding the allure of the female character in the story, Mangan’s sister, because she composed of an alluring

Poe uses situational irony to develop the plot. Shortly after entering the catacombs, Fortunato makes a strange gesture. Montresor is confused, and states that he does not understand. Fortunato then questions if he is of the mason brotherhood, as it is apparently a commonly understood sign among masons. However, Montresor quickly proves that he is, in fact, a mason. He says, “‘It is this,’ I answered producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel” (Poe). When Montresor is first questioned, the reader suspects that he may not be a mason as he says he is. Montresor owning a trowel proves that he is a mason because a trowel would only be of use to a mason as it is used to help build things. The trowel is later of great significance. Montresor uses the trowel to build a wall, enclosing and suffocating Fortunato. After trapping Fortunato, Montresor calls to him and receives no answer. He then places a torch through a hole in the wall, and hears the bells of Fortunato’s costume jingling. Montresor begins to reflect on what has happened. “My heart grew sick, it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so” (Poe). As

John Updike’s A&P and James Joyce’s Araby are very similar yet very different in many ways. Each short story has a normal kid with an obsession over a girl. The big difference between Sammy in A&P and Jimmy in Araby is just that they were raised differently and have different values. The way Jimmy talks about his fantasy girl is on a more religious level while Sammy in other words is kind of impolite about how he describes the three girls that walk into the market. From the narrator’s point of view in each story to the use of imagery and the main characters motivation, each story has multiple points of comparison to compare and contrast.

While walking through the catacombs Montresor tells Fortunato, “but observe the white web-work which gleams from those cavern walls” (375) This shows the reader that the walls of the cave are covered with niter. He uses the words “white web-work” to allow the reader to imagine spider webs. Spiders make spider webs to kill his prey, just like Montresor is doing to Fortunato. Poe also allows the readers to visualize the dead bodies and bones in the tomb. Montresor and Fortunato walk through the catacombs passing the bodies. “We passed through walls of piles bones with casks and puncheons intermingling into the inmost recesses of the catacombs” (276). This allows for the reader to see wine containers with bones and dead bodies. This makes a reader to be disgusted because they are seeing people decaying and dead. These contribute to the mood by making them feel gross and maybe a bit

Feuds and arguments between individuals who may disagree with or dislike one another are a common occurrence in everyday life, often varying in degrees of intensity, but rarely reaching a point of extremity. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, This threshold of extremity is reached by the narrator of the story, Montresor, who explains that his acquaintance, Fortunato, has repeatedly and irreparably insulted him over the course of years, and uses it as justification to take justice into his own hands and seek retribution through murder, despite there being no proof of Fortunato's guilt other than Montresor’s claims. His motive for murdering Fortunato can be attributed to his state of mind, as Montresor’s lack of guilt, empathy, or remorse highlights him as a character with psychopathic tendencies. As the story progresses, Montresor’s cold and calculating nature leaves the audience full of dread and suspense while he lures the oblivious Fortunato towards his inevitable demise. The employment of rhetorical devices such as irony, theme, and structure builds the suspense for the ultimate climax of Poe’s gothic masterpiece.

Set in Dublin, the narrator of "Araby" tells of his attempts to win the attention of his friend Mangan's older sister.. The boy promises to bring her a gift from a bazaar named Araby. In “A&P”, Sammy is a nineteen­year­old cashier at the local A&P in a shore town outside of Boston. Like Joyce's “Araby”, Sammy also attempts to win the attention of a girl. In both cases, romance gives way to reality, and conflict occurs when the two boys come to the realization that in the real world their attempts are unrealistic.

As they progress into the catacombs Fortunato is bombarded by all these hints and clues about his coming doom but this is what truly is evil that montresor is truly insane enough and mad enough to make fortunato a fool. Some hints and clues is when fortunato is encumbered with a cough supposedly from the nitre and Montressor acts as though he is concerned and asks if they should go back in which in return Fortunato replies "The cough is a mere nothing, it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough" (Poe paragraph 37). Which in reply Montresor says true true. Also Montressors coat of arms "the heel stomping on the snake that is biting the heel. As they get deeper and deper into the catacombs another thing that goes on between Montressor and Fortunato that stands out is when they talk about the freemasons which is a secret guild of

Poe uses foreshadowing as a technique to emphasise the theme of revenge he has created the story around. The story has shown to have foreshadowing throughout to help the reader understand what the character Montresor has planned for Fortunato. In the story, Poe uses the detail of Montresor carrying a trowel in his pocket. A trowel is a flat blade used to spread things, or in this case spread the mortar on the bricks to enclose Fortunato. By showing that Montresor is keeping the trowel close to him shows that he is prepared to finally get his revenge on Fortunato, and put his nerves to ease. The second detail Poe uses is Montresor’s family motto. Montresor in the story mentions his family motto which is. “ Nemo me impune lacessit”. Which means, “ No one attacks me with impunity”. The family motto is used in this story to show that Montresor will not stand for anybody who punishes him in any shape or form. Somehow Fortunato has done something to wrong Montresor, and by sticking with his family motto. It is foreshadowing the idea that Montresor will do something to get his revenge. When Montresor finally has Fortunato intoxicated, Montresor decides to finally make his move. Montresor decides to lure Fortunato down into the Catacombs by using his one weakness, wine. By stating there is a wine that Montresor bought and he would Fortunato to test it leads us to believe it is a trap. Montresor then goes on and says that the wine is the catacombs. The word catacombs has a negative connotation with leads us to believe this is foreshadowing the event where Montresor makes his move to get his revenge. Foreshadowing was just one of the few ways Poe used

Although injustice is a common theme throughout the works of C.K. William’s “The Nail,” Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles,” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” there are many different forms in which injustice is expelled. For example, the injustice in Poe’s “The Cask” is dissimilar from the injustice found in Glaspell’s “Trifles,” and William’s “The Nail” in the sense that “The Cask” talks about injustice in the form of one man murdering another without a clear, justly motive. Glaspell’s “Trifles” talks about injustice through saving the wife whom was the perceived murderer of her husband, because some women withheld key evidence that they found, which would have led to the wife being rightly convicted. And lastly, the injustice found in William’s “The Nail” is unlike the other stories mentioned, in the context that William’s eludes to the point that injustices are tackled from within one’s sense of reason, and outward injustice is simply a result of inward turmoil. Therefore, one can only conclude that injustice cannot be categorized to simply a terrible act not being rightly judged – nor can it be marginalized. It surpasses the borders of actions which can be judged by law, and can be found just as often in the silence of a thought.

Poe then leads the story down his signature dark path. Montresor and Fortunato go from being in a light, happy place to the catacombs. The catacombs are a dark, damp place where the remains of Montresor’s family

I shall not die of a cough. " This tells the reader what might happen to Fortunato and that he won’t die from a cough but, he will die in the catacombs where Montresor. Poe uses foreshadowing to warn the reader of what might happen in the

Despite their differences in scope and setting, these two stories, “Araby” by James Joyce and “A&P by John Updike, have much in common. For instance, in both stories, the protagonists experience some progressive change in life. But as they advance from one level to another, they encounter disillusionment. The narrator in “Araby”, for example, is obsessed with love for "Mangan’s sister", whom she promises to buy her an expensive gift from bazaar. With little cash, he decides to board the train towards bazaar, only to arrive at a time when the bazaar was about to close.

Leaving Fortunato to die, Montresor vacates the catacombs , wishing that he rests in peace. Throughout the story, Poe uses a variety of literary devices to create a vivid picture for the reader. The story is written in first person to understand the point of view and motives of the narrator himself, and imagery is also used to describe the setting of the dark catacombs. However the most prominent literary element that Poe uses is irony. Irony is an imperative literary element throughout the passage, and is used to create interest and depth within the story.

This is irony, however, because Montresor was pretending to care for Fortunato’s well being when ultimately he was taking him there to kill him. One other form of symbolism may be the repeated mentioning of the piles of bones. These bones may represent the departed family members which is foreshadowing the death of Fortunato. The piles of bones may be saying that there are so many bones in the catacombs, Fortunato may not ever be found because his bones will be unrecognisable from the piles already

In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery to allude to Fortunato’s death. Firstly, Poe describes Fortunato by stating that he wears a “tight-fitting parti-striped dress” and a “conical cap” (Poe 340). Fortunato wears clothes similar to a clown or jester and gets “fooled” into his own death by Montresor. In contrast, Montresor wears a “mask of black silk” and a roquelaire, a short cloak, both symbolizing and alluding to death (Poe 341). Next, Poe depicts the men’s journey into the “damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors” (Poe 341). The transition from the carnival to the “vaults” is a metaphor for Fortunato’s fall into the dark underworld (Poe 341). Lastly, “walls of piled bones” are used to set up the scene as the men