Creating Horror in Fiction: Comparison of Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado and Shirley jackson's The Lottery
Creating Horror
Authors use a number of different tones, settings, themes, characterizations, and points of view in order to create a fictional world inside the readers head. We see these tools used in contrasting ways in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The distinctive techniques used in these short stories leave you feeling uneasy once you finish them. Using different methods, both authors create a story of horror for their readers.
The tones of these stories vary quite a bit. The first sentence of “The Cask of Amontillado” reads “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (226). Poe sets a powerful tone of revenge by the narrator in this passage, as well as many other passages throughout the story, to portray horror. On the other hand, the tone of “The Lottery” is peaceful. However, the last few sentences of Jackson’s story create a final tone of horror.
The subtle approach to horror in “The Lottery” is what really shocks the reader and leaves them feeling uneasy. The beginning opens to a setting of a simple and tranquil town. “…the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square…” (133). The only part of the setting that could give the reader a hint to the purpose of the lottery is the pile of stones made by the children in the beginning of the story. Jackson writes “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example… eventually (they) made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square…” (133). Still, the reader does not know the use of the stones until the story comes to a frightening and disturbing end. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado” starts at a carnival and eventually moves to an eerie catacomb of Montresor. The last setting is the scariest of them all: “At the most remote end of the crypt
Authors use a number of different tones, settings, themes, characterizations, and points of view in order to create a fictional world inside the readers head. We see these tools used in contrasting ways in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The distinctive techniques used in these short stories leave you feeling uneasy once you finish them. Using different methods, both authors create a story of horror for their readers.
The tones of these stories vary quite a bit. The first sentence of “The Cask of Amontillado” reads “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (226). Poe sets a powerful tone of revenge by the narrator in this passage, as well as many other passages throughout the story, to portray horror. On the other hand, the tone of “The Lottery” is peaceful. However, the last few sentences of Jackson’s story create a final tone of horror.
The subtle approach to horror in “The Lottery” is what really shocks the reader and leaves them feeling uneasy. The beginning opens to a setting of a simple and tranquil town. “…the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square…” (133). The only part of the setting that could give the reader a hint to the purpose of the lottery is the pile of stones made by the children in the beginning of the story. Jackson writes “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example… eventually (they) made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square…” (133). Still, the reader does not know the use of the stones until the story comes to a frightening and disturbing end. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado” starts at a carnival and eventually moves to an eerie catacomb of Montresor. The last setting is the scariest of them all: “At the most remote end of the crypt
Cited: Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature and the Writing Process. Pearson Education, Inc. 2014. Pages 133-138. Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Literature and the Writing Process. Pearson Education, Inc. 2014. Pages 226-231.