A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor lived from 1925-1964 and in 1955 she wrote the short story A Good Man is Hard to Find. This story portrays a family road trip to Florida gone wrong. As the story starts off the grandmother is in opposition to going on a trip to Florida, she would much rather go to East Tennessee, because there is an escaped convict running loose. She tries to convince her son Bailey, and the family to go, but she fails in her attempt. The family packs up to head to Florida and grandma brings her cat with her so that she does not have to stay by herself for three days while everyone is gone. On their trip grandma remembers an old house she would not mind stopping to visit on the way, and with some persuasion from the kids Bailey agrees to stop and see the house. As they turn down an old dirt road to go visit the house grandma remembers that the house is actually in Tennessee. Her sudden reaction to this remembrance startles the cat who then jumps onto Bailey causing the car to flip and roll off the road. After everyone starts to catch their breath a black vehicle is seen down the road coming towards the family. When the car arrives all is still for a while, and there are three men who get out. One of them whom is recognized by the grandmother as she screams out his identity. In time the two accomplices kill off everyone in the family, and in a fit pleading for her life the escaped convict kills the grandmother as she reaches out to touch him. At this point the story comes to an abrupt end with no more of a conclusion other than a family vacation trip gone wrong ending in the murder of a whole entire family. 

The Cask of Amontillado

The Cask of Amontillado is a story written by Edgar Allen Poe. Some readers have a difficult time trying to understand it since Poe wrote in such a unique and perhaps gruesome way. This story portrays a very grave death for the character Fortunato who is buried alive in the catacombs of a wine cellar. The story is perhaps one of the most famous short stories written by Edgar Allen Poe, who lived a meager forty years from 1809 – 1849, it is one that leaves many people questioning. It is also a story that some say comes from an actual event during Poe's life where he killed a man in the same way that Fortunato is killed in the story. Poe was one who drank quite heavily during his life. This led too much of his demise, and cost him many jobs, and even a marriage. Even though drinking was a major part in Poe’s life some could speculate it influenced many of his writings. Either way, whether Poe was influenced in his writings by his drinking or not he became a very famous writer, and even practically invented the genre of detective stories.