The Cask of Amontillado vs the Lottery
Title Authors use many different tools to portray and create some fictional world inside the readers mind such as plot, point of view, characterization, symbolism, etc... “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Lottery” are two very melancholy stories each in their own way. Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson both use excellent techniques to create the peculiar atmosphere and mood of their stories. Edgar Allen Poe is known for using many different artistic elements to create eerie, spooky stories. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe uses first person point of view to let the reader know how proud the narrator, Montresor, is with his past impunitistic murders. “I must not only punish but punish with impunity” (pg.236). The use of setting and imagery makes the mood dark and gloomy. The story starts out with Montresor running into Fortunato, his enemy who has irreparably insulted him, at a carnival. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (pg. 236). Carnivals put on performances, just as Montresor puts on a show for Fortunato by portraying that they are friends when, in reality, Montresor is plotting out his revenge for him. The setting then moves to the catacombs of the Montresors, where he lures Fortunato with the hope of getting a flagon of Amontillado. Montresor also puts on a show by continuously trying to get Fortunato to turn around, saying he can go get Luchesi, Fortunato’s competition in the wine business, and by mentioning repeatedly his concern for Fortunato’s health. “Come,” I said, “we will go back; your health is precious….Besides, there is Luchesi-” (pg. 238) He makes the reader picture the catacomb as dark, never ending, and deathly by saying, “The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre” (pg. 237). Poe creates this nightmare of “the innermost recess of the catacombs” by describing the bones and intermingled puncheons (pg. 238). Poe does such a