Bradley Allen

Mrs. Tieman
English 12
February 12, 2014
Short Story Comparison
The two stories The Cask of Amontillado and Once Upon a Time are both
tragic stories ending in death. They are similar in tone and style but dont have a similar
plot. One death is caused by an accident and one is caused by anger.
The story, The Cask of Amontillado was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1846.
The story is about a man named Montresor who feels he has been wronged by an
acquaintance name Fortunato. Montresor aims to seek revenge on this man. Montresor
lures Fortunato to a wine cellar to taste some sherry. Fortunato is excited to taste the
sherry. Montresor makes sure all of his servants are gone for the night to a carnival. As
the pair walk through the vault, Montresor gives Fortunato alcohol to soothe his cough.
Inebriated, Fortunato doesnt realize Montresor has began to build a wall. Once
Fortunato realizes his fate he begins to scream for help. No one can hear his pleas for
help. Montresor buries Fortunato alive deep in the vaults.
Nadine Gordimer wrote the story Once Upon a Time. This story is set in Africa
where fear of violence is wide spread. The story begins with Gordimer refusing to write
the book she has been asked to write. She does not feel she should have to write on
demand. She is awakened in her bed by a noise that she believes to be an intruder.
Although she believes the sound was nothing, she cannot fall back to sleep. She begins
to tell herself a story to fall asleep. In the story she tells herself the family is afraid of the
world around them. The family has surrounded their home with security measures
including a razor wire fence. The fence was meant to keep people out. The son in the
story is curious about what is outside of the house. He goes outside and gets killed by
the razor wire surrounding the house. What was meant for protection of the family ends
up being devastation for the family.
There arent many similarities in these two stories. One similarity is that both
stories involved negative and dark tones. There is anger in both the stories. In the first
story the anger is from the main character toward the secondary character. In the
second story the anger is from the violence in the city surrounding the main characters.
There is death in both stories. Both stories contain a death of a main character.
There are several differences or contrasts in these two stories. In the first story
the ultimate goal of the main character was to cause death to the other character. In the
second story the familys ultimate goal was to protect themselves so that no harm would
come to the family members. The actual settings of the stories are completely different.
The first story is set in a dark and secluded vault. The second story is set in a home in a
dangerous town.
In the first story the character does not fear his soon to be killer. He believes he
is being led to taste some (possible exotic) sherry. He happily followed the future killer
into the depths of the vault. In the second story the family lived in constant state of fear.
They believed that by setting up security measures outside of the house they would be
safe from the potential harm.
The first storys characters were outgoing people. They lived life publically. The
second story contained a family that had secluded themselves from the public.
The two stories are very different with just a few similarities. The similarities are
the darkness and death. Both stories involve death of main or feature character. The
differences outnumber the similarities. The theme of the Cask of Amontillado is a
revenge plan that includes murder. The theme of Once Upon a Time is one of survival.
One story shows the plan or goal of murder while one story shows the instinct of trying
to live in a dangerous area.
Even though there arent many similarities you can still find things that are alike
in the stories. The two stories are both dark in nature, both of them having dark negative
tones. They are different in their darkness but both deal with negative and deadly
situations. One filled with anger. One filled with fear.