Hills Like White Elephants, And Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Kyle Godfrey
Writing about Literature
Professor Doherty
4/1/14
The Cask of Amontillado In all literature, and more specifically in essays or short stories there are a large number of literally elements used. The six most consistent ones are characters, plot, setting, symbols, point-of-view, and purpose. All of these together combine to create a vast number of novels, essays, and short stories that we all know today. Some of the best well-known stories are Hills like White Elephants by Hemmingway, Why we Crave Horror Movies by King, The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman, and Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Bierce. All of these stories have a few things in common, and that is the six literally elements mentioned before. Like the other pieces
A symbol is an item that represents something or holds greater meaning than what would appears to the naked eye. They can range from a piece of clothing to a flower planted in the ground. It all depends upon how the author chooses to use it. I feel symbols are important because it gives the story its own personality, and creates a deeper meaning in most cases as well. An example from the story would be the clothing that Fortunato is wearing. At the start of the story we are told that he is wearing what appears to be the outfit of a clown or jester because of the festival they he is at. This outfit symbolizes how much of an idiot Montresor makes out of him in the story. He tricks the man wearing a dumb outfit right in to his own death, and he didn’t see it coming at all. Small details like this can add so much to a story, and especially so if more than one are
The purpose of the story is slightly different from the others in that it cannot really be seen in the story. It is more so what one gathers or interprets from what the author has written. In the most simplistic of definitions, it is the reasoning behind why the author, or in this case Poe, decided to write this piece. The purpose can be tied to the author’s intended message that he or she is trying to get to the readers. In my own personal opinion, I believe that Poe intended to write this story for pure entertainment purposes. In general, he wrote about things that were dark and death related. So when it comes to this story, there is nothing unusual about it. Maybe in his life, he came across a person that had done wrong to him, and this was his imagination coming on to paper. I think it’s a mystery only he knows the answer to. The rest of us are left to guess what actually drove him to write it. In relation to the purpose of the story, I think that Poe tries to send us the readers an overall message. In The Cask of Amontillado the message is be careful how you treat others. No doubt, the Golden Rule is one message. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Montresor has taken insult upon insult from Fortunato. He has suffered a thousand injuries and has simply had enough. Because of the way he was treated, he now wants revenge. This is something that I picked up from reading the story, and I think is a message