The Giver Comparative Essay
Dragons, witches, princesses and knights. These are the imaginary friends in so many children's lives. For young adults, those fairy tale characters give way to darker characters and more realistic situations. However, what do they all have in common? The live in short stories. Two short stories that are interesting are "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. They seem like very different stories, but they have more similarities than you think.
The main characters of both stories are similar in characterization because both Amontillado and Jonas change throughout the story, even if the progression of either change is much different in length. Even so, they do both change drastically throughout their stories. Jonas turns from a regular "Twelve", as so claimed by Lois Lowry, to being chosen as the "Receiver of Memory", being given much more authority for his position, and allowed to bend and break rules without consequences, whereas Amontillado lets his thoughts control him and change him into the sinister man near the end, when he bricks Fortunato in the cellar after he had a few too many glasses of wine. They do both experience drastic changes throughout …show more content…
the story. Both characters develop, and add more personality to both characters, even if Amontillado is a little dark.
However, Jonas's change is in a more positive way, almost like getting hired for a job, or even promoted to a higher status.
Amontillado's change...is a little more morbid. He changes from an every day man, nonchalantly showing another man his family's cask cellars, to basically a murderer. He builds up a wall of mortar and bricks, blocking in the man he oh-so despised. The story did also foreshadow that Amontillado would eventually snap towards the beginning, so it was a little more predictable than Jonas' change, of course, for first time readers. Amontillado's change was also more blunt than Jonas' change. Amontillado went straight into bricking the drunken man in, while Jonas eased into his. It started with the "Chief Elder" skipping over him in the "Ceremony of
Twelves".
The characters are similar tone in some ways. Both "The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) and "The Giver" (Lowry) have somewhat of a darker tone to them. Knowing that Edgar Allen Poe is a well-known horror author, the reader could expect the story to be quite dark. "The Giver" (Lowry) is dark, but in its own way. With the constant "releasing" of citizens for breaking strange rules gives it that dark ring. Lowry does a good job at portraying that the community that Jonas is living in has very strict and very specific rules to follow. The thought of having a rule against something so simple that an average person does daily is a little nerve-wracking.
However, "The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) is much, much darker than "The Giver" (Lowry). "The Giver" has a more dystopian tone to it. They have advanced technology and strange rules. "The Cask of Amontillado" is darker, and a little morbid, knowing that Amontillado was planning on killing Fortunado all because of a simple insult he muttered, probably unknowingly. Going so far for just a petty insult, well, it's morbid, and kind of scary to think about.
The point of view of both stories is similar in a few ways. "The Giver" is in third person, but it doesn't obstruct the thoughts or feelings of Jonas. You are informed of what he's thinking of or what he's feeling, for an example, when Jonas was in the "Ceremony of Twelves", he felt fear that the "Elder Chief" had skipped over his name, or that he had done something wrong to not receive his occupation. "The Cask of Amontillado" is in first person, but in it, the narrator also tells his feelings and thoughts. He tells the readers that he was planning on killing Fortunado while he dragged the drunken man through the catacombs under his family's household. Simply, it made it all the more suspenseful.
What was different with the point of views, however, was definitely not the point of views itself, but how they were portrayed to be. Amontillado had much more thinking in his mind, whereas Jonas was shown to have more feelings, so the reader could have a more emotional connection with him. Amontillado showed his thoughts so the reader could predict what he was planning on doing to the man he was accompanied with. His thoughts, along with the tone, was much, much darker than Jonas' thoughts. But no one would expect any less from the old time writer.
The main characters of both stories are similar in characterization because both Amontillado and Jonas change throughout the story, even if the progression of either change is much different in length. Even so, they do both change drastically throughout their stories. Jonas turns from a regular "Twelve", as so claimed by Lois Lowry, to being chosen as the "Receiver of Memory", being given much more authority for his position, and allowed to bend and break rules without consequences, whereas Amontillado lets his thoughts control him and change him into the sinister man near the end, when he bricks Fortunato in the cellar after he had a few too many glasses of wine. They do both experience drastic changes throughout …show more content…
the story. Both characters develop, and add more personality to both characters, even if Amontillado is a little dark.
However, Jonas's change is in a more positive way, almost like getting hired for a job, or even promoted to a higher status.
Amontillado's change...is a little more morbid. He changes from an every day man, nonchalantly showing another man his family's cask cellars, to basically a murderer. He builds up a wall of mortar and bricks, blocking in the man he oh-so despised. The story did also foreshadow that Amontillado would eventually snap towards the beginning, so it was a little more predictable than Jonas' change, of course, for first time readers. Amontillado's change was also more blunt than Jonas' change. Amontillado went straight into bricking the drunken man in, while Jonas eased into his. It started with the "Chief Elder" skipping over him in the "Ceremony of
Twelves".
The characters are similar tone in some ways. Both "The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) and "The Giver" (Lowry) have somewhat of a darker tone to them. Knowing that Edgar Allen Poe is a well-known horror author, the reader could expect the story to be quite dark. "The Giver" (Lowry) is dark, but in its own way. With the constant "releasing" of citizens for breaking strange rules gives it that dark ring. Lowry does a good job at portraying that the community that Jonas is living in has very strict and very specific rules to follow. The thought of having a rule against something so simple that an average person does daily is a little nerve-wracking.
However, "The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) is much, much darker than "The Giver" (Lowry). "The Giver" has a more dystopian tone to it. They have advanced technology and strange rules. "The Cask of Amontillado" is darker, and a little morbid, knowing that Amontillado was planning on killing Fortunado all because of a simple insult he muttered, probably unknowingly. Going so far for just a petty insult, well, it's morbid, and kind of scary to think about.
The point of view of both stories is similar in a few ways. "The Giver" is in third person, but it doesn't obstruct the thoughts or feelings of Jonas. You are informed of what he's thinking of or what he's feeling, for an example, when Jonas was in the "Ceremony of Twelves", he felt fear that the "Elder Chief" had skipped over his name, or that he had done something wrong to not receive his occupation. "The Cask of Amontillado" is in first person, but in it, the narrator also tells his feelings and thoughts. He tells the readers that he was planning on killing Fortunado while he dragged the drunken man through the catacombs under his family's household. Simply, it made it all the more suspenseful.
What was different with the point of views, however, was definitely not the point of views itself, but how they were portrayed to be. Amontillado had much more thinking in his mind, whereas Jonas was shown to have more feelings, so the reader could have a more emotional connection with him. Amontillado showed his thoughts so the reader could predict what he was planning on doing to the man he was accompanied with. His thoughts, along with the tone, was much, much darker than Jonas' thoughts. But no one would expect any less from the old time writer.