The Father Bjornsterne Bjornson (Norway)
v Plot
A peasant, Thord Overaas, visits his priest four times during the course of
twenty-one years. The first time he asks that his son, Finn, be baptized by himself.
Sixteen years later Thord pays the priest ten dollars, for Finn is to stand first (among
his peers) for confirmation. Next, when the banns of the sons impending marriage
are to be published, Thord pays the priest three dollars; this is an excessive amount,
but Finn is to marry the richest girl in the parish, and Thord wants to do it
handsomely. Soon after this, father and son are involved in a boating accident, and
the son loses his life. A year later, Thord visits the priest for the last time. He is so
much changed that the priest barely recognizes him. Thord has sold his farm, and
presents half of its price to be given to the poor. When asked what he will now do,
Thord responds, something better. The priest declares that the son has at last
brought a true blessing.
Conflict
The conflict in the story is the wanting of the father to put his childs account
on top.
Climax
The climax in the story is when the son died and the father was very sorrow
about it.
Denouement
The resolution of the story is when the father realized that his son is the true
blessing to him that his death made him realized that money is not everything.
v Characters
Protagonist:
Thord Overaas- the father and the main character in the story
Finn- child of Thord
The priest
Antagonist:
Fate- fate of the son to die that brought his father a true blessing.
v Setting
Location- in Thords parish
Time- long time ago
v Theme
The theme is about life process for it tells the experiences of Thord
Overaas along the way from the birth and death of Finn.
v Point of View
The narrator is not a participant in the story and his knowledge is limited to
Thords character thus, making it to fall under the Third persons point of view.
v Conflict
Man vs. Himself is evident in the story for Thord is struggling against his
will of giving his son only the best without realizing other important matter than
giving the best of wealth to his son.
v Symbol
The dollar is the symbol in this story for so many times he used it to put his
sons account on top.
v Moral lesson
Wealth is nothing compared to the person or people you love.
Plot Overview A rose for emily
The story is divided into five sections. In section I, the narrator recalls the time
of Emily Griersons death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her
home, which no stranger had entered for more than ten years. In a once-
elegant, upscale neighborhood, Emilys house is the last vestige of the
grandeur of a lost era. Colonel Sartoris, the towns previous mayor, had
suspended Emilys tax responsibilities to the town after her fathers death,
justifying the action by claiming that Mr. Grierson had once lent the community
a significant sum. As new town leaders take over, they make unsuccessful
attempts to get Emily to resume payments. When members of the Board of
Aldermen pay her a visit, in the dusty and antiquated parlor, Emily reasserts
the fact that she is not required to pay taxes in Jefferson and that the officials
should talk to Colonel Sartoris about the matter. However, at that point he has
been dead for almost a decade. She asks her servant, Tobe, to show the men
out. rouge
In section II, the narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when Emily
resists another official inquiry on behalf of the town leaders, when the
townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her property. Her father
has just died, and Emily has been abandoned by the man whom the townsfolk
believed Emily was to marry. As complaints mount, Judge Stevens, the mayor
at the time, decides to have lime sprinkled along the foundation of the
Grierson home in the middle of the night. Within a couple of weeks, the odor
subsides, but the townspeople begin to pity the increasingly reclusive Emily,
remembering how her great aunt had succumbed to insanity. The
townspeople have always believed that the Griersons thought too highly of
themselves, with Emilys father driving off the many suitors deemed not good
enough to marry his daughter. With no offer of marriage in sight, Emily is still
single by the time she turns thirty.
The day after Mr. Griersons death, the women of the town call on Emily to
offer their condolences. Meeting them at the door, Emily states that her father
is not dead, a charade that she keeps up for three days. She finally turns her
fathers body over for burial.
In section III, the narrator describes a long illness that Emily suffers after this
incident. The summer after her fathers death, the town contracts workers to
pave the sidewalks, and a construction company, under the direction of
northerner Homer Barron, is awarded the job. Homer soon becomes a popular
figure in town and is seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons,
which scandalizes the town and increases the condescension and pity they
have for Emily. They feel that she is forgetting her family pride and becoming
involved with a man beneath her station.
As the affair continues and Emilys reputation is further compromised, she
goes to the drug store to purchase arsenic, a powerful poison. She is required
by law to reveal how she will use the arsenic. She offers no explanation, and
the package arrives at her house labeled For rats.
In section IV, the narrator describes the fear that some of the townspeople
have that Emily will use the poison to kill herself. Her potential marriage to
Homer seems increasingly unlikely, despite their continued Sunday ritual. The
more outraged women of the town insist that the Baptist minister talk with
Emily. After his visit, he never speaks of what happened and swears that hell
never go back. So the ministers wife writes to Emilys two cousins in
Alabama, who arrive for an extended stay. Because Emily orders a silver toilet
set monogrammed with Homers initials, talk of the couples marriage
resumes. Homer, absent from town, is believed to be preparing for Emilys
move to the North or avoiding Emilys intrusive relatives.
After the cousins departure, Homer enters the Grierson home one evening
and then is never seen again. Holed up in the house, Emily grows plump and
gray. Despite the occasional lesson she gives in china painting, her door
remains closed to outsiders. In what becomes an annual ritual, Emily refuses
to acknowledge the tax bill. She eventually closes up the top floor of the
house. Except for the occasional glimpse of her in the window, nothing is
heard from her until her death at age seventy-four. Only the servant is seen
going in and out of the house.
In section V, the narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. Emilys
body is laid out in the parlor, and the women, town elders, and two cousins
attend the service. After some time has passed, the door to a sealed upstairs
room that had not been opened in forty years is broken down by the
townspeople. The room is frozen in time, with the items for an upcoming
wedding and a mans suit laid out. Homer Barrons body is stretched on the
bed as well, in an advanced state of decay. The onlookers then notice the
indentation of a head in the pillow beside Homers body and a long strand of
Emilys gray hair on the pillow.
Character List
Emily Grierson - The object of fascination in the story. A eccentric recluse,
Emily is a mysterious figure who changes from a vibrant and hopeful young
girl to a cloistered and secretive old woman. Devastated and alone after her
fathers death, she is an object of pity for the townspeople. After a life of
having potential suitors rejected by her father, she spends time after his death
with a newcomer, Homer Barron, although the chances of his marrying her
decrease as the years pass. Bloated and pallid in her later years, her hair
turns steel gray. She ultimately poisons Homer and seals his corpse into an
upstairs room.
Read an in-depth analysis of Emily Grierson.
Homer Barron - A foreman from the North. Homer is a large man with a dark
complexion, a booming voice, and light-colored eyes. A gruff and demanding
boss, he wins many admirers in Jefferson because of his gregarious nature
and good sense of humor. He develops an interest in Emily and takes her for
Sunday drives in a yellow-wheeled buggy. Despite his attributes, the
townspeople view him as a poor, if not scandalous, choice for a mate. He
disappears in Emilys house and decomposes in an attic bedroom after she
kills him.
Read an in-depth analysis of Homer Barron.
Judge Stevens - A mayor of Jefferson. Eighty years old, Judge Stevens
attempts to delicately handle the complaints about the smell emanating from
the Grierson property. To be respectful of Emilys pride and former position in
the community, he and the aldermen decide to sprinkle lime on the property in
the middle of the night.
Mr. Grierson - Emilys father. Mr. Grierson is a controlling, looming presence
even in death, and the community clearly sees his lasting influence over
Emily. He deliberately thwarts Emilys attempts to find a husband in order to
keep her under his control. We get glimpses of him in the story: in the crayon
portrait kept on the gilt-edged easel in the parlor, and silhouetted in the
doorway, horsewhip in hand, having chased off another of Emilys suitors.
Tobe - Emilys servant. Tobe, his voice supposedly rusty from lack of use, is
the only lifeline that Emily has to the outside world. For years, he dutifully
cares for her and tends to her needs. Eventually the townspeople stop grilling
him for information about Emily. After Emilys death, he walks out the back
door and never returns.
Colonel Sartoris - A former mayor of Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris absolves
Emily of any tax burden after the death of her father. His elaborate and
benevolent gesture is not heeded by the succeeding generation of town
leaders.
THE PIECE OF STRING
exposition
It was market-day, and from all the country round Goderville the peasants and
their wives were coming toward the town.
exposition:
The people that are coming to Goderville shows that people are coming to town
for a reason which lead to Maitre Hauchecome finding the string on the ground as
he was going to Goderville.
inciting incident:
Matre Hauchecome of Breaute had just arrived at Goderville, and he was
directing his steps toward the public square when he perceived upon the ground
a little piece of string. Matre Hauchecome, economical like a true Norman,
thought that everything useful ought to be picked up, and he bent painfully, for he
suffered from rheumatism. He took the bit of thin cord from the ground and began
to roll it carefully when he noticed Matre Malandain, the harness maker, on the
threshold of his door, looking at him.
inciting incident:
When Maitre Hauchcome picks the piece of string up off the ground, he commits
the act that sets the story in motion. The act of picking up the piece of string will
lead Malandain to accuse him of stealing the wallet.
rising action
"Be it known to the inhabitants of Goderville and in general to all persons present
at the market that there has been lost this morning on the Beuzeville road,
between nine and ten o'clock, a black leather pocketbook containing five hundred
francs and business papers. You are requested to return it to the mayor's office at
once or to Maitre Fortune Houlbreque, of Manneville. There will be twenty francs
reward."
rising action.
This is the rising action because it shows something is missing and that Maitre
Hauchcome picked up something that no one saw but the person who hates him,
and wll later accuse him later on in the story of stealing the wallet.
climax
"Maitre Hauchecorne," said he, "this morning on the Beuzeville road, you were
seen to pick up the pocketbook lost by Maitre Houlbreque, of Manneville."
The countryman looked at the mayor in amazement frightened already at this
suspicion which rested on him, he knew not why.
"I--I picked up that pocketbook?"
"Yes, YOU."
"I swear I don't even know anything about it."
"You were seen." accused
"I was seen--I? Who saw me?"
"M. Malandain, the harness-maker."
Then the old man remembered, understood, and, reddening with anger, said:
"Ah! he saw me, did he, the rascal? He saw me picking up this string here, M'sieu
le Maire."
And fumbling at the bottom of his pocket, he pulled out of it the little end of
string.
But the ma yor incredulously shook his head:
"You will not make me believe, Maitre Hauchecorne, that M. Malandain, who is a
man whose word can be relied on, has mistaken this string for a pocketbook."
The peasant, furious, raised his hand and spat on the ground beside him as if to
attest his good faith, repeating:
"For all that, it is God's truth, M'sieu le Maire. There! On my soul's salvation, I
repeat it."
The mayor continued:
"After you picked up the object in question, you even looked about for some time
in the mud to see if a piece of money had not dropped out of it."
climax:
This is the climax because it is where Maitre Hauchecome is accused of stealing
the wallet and not turning it in, this makes people dislike him.
falling action till
He passed on, buttonholed by every one, himself buttonholing his acquaintances,
beginning over and over again his tale and his protestations, showing his
pockets turned inside out to prove that he had nothing in them.
They said to him:
"You old rogue!"
He grew more and more angry, feverish, in despair at not being believed, and kept
on telling his story.
The night came. It was time to go home. He left with three of his neighbors, to
whom he pointed out the place where he had picked up the string, and all the way
he talked of his adventure.
That evening he made the round of the village of Breaute for the purpose of
telling every one. He met only unbelievers.
He brooded over it all night long.
falling action:
It shows falling action because it is the result of the climax where people call him
a "rogue" because he accused to have stolen the wallet even though someone
else found the wallet and returned it to the right owner.
resolution
He felt this. It preyed upon him and he exhausted himself in useless efforts.
He was visibly wasting away. walking
Jokers would make him tell the story of "the piece of string" to amuse them, just
as you make a soldier who has been on a campaign tell his story of the battle. His
mind kept growing weaker and about the end of December he took to his bed.
He passed away early in January, and, in the ravings of death agony, he protested
his innocence, repeating:
"A little bit of string--a little bit of string. See, here it is, M'sieu le Maire."
resolution:
This is the resolution because it is the result of the falling action, the people
telling him he is lying and his story is false, drove him crazy that no one belived
him and in the end led to his death.
ANALYSIS: PLOT ANALYSIS
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of
ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication,
climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great
writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some
spice.
Initial Situation
An insult, and a vow of revenge
Fortunato and Montresor have a history, and a painful one at that. Fortunato has
wounded Montresor a thousand times. Montresor never complains. But one day,
Fortunato goes too far: he insults Montresor, and Montresor vows revenge.
Conflict
How to make things right forever
For Montresor to revenge himself for Fortunatos insult, he has to get away with it if
Fortunato can revenge him back, then Montresor has lost. The punishment must
be permanent Fortunato has to feel it, and he has to know its coming from Montresor.
Complication
Its almost too easy
There really isnt much complication. After a few carefully dropped hints from Montresor
(think Amontillado and Luchesi), Fortunato insists on following Montresor down into
the underground graveyard of your worst nightmares. Montresor baits him and plays
with him, but Fortunato never considers turning back until its way too late.
Climax
Trapped in a conveniently man-sized space!
Montresor brings up Luchesi, Fortunato calls Luchesi an ignoramus, and boom! Hes
chained inside an upright casket in the foulest depths of the catacomb! Thats the storys
big, explosive moment.
Suspense
Brick by brick by brick
Montresor is building a wall of suspense, especially if you are Fortunato. Fortunatos
watching himself being bricked in, waiting, breathlessly to see if this is some kind of
really creepy carnival joke.
Denouement
The final brick
After Montresor puts in the final brick, the suspense is dissolved. Hes heard the pitiful
jingle of Fortunatos bells, and it means nothing to him. As soon as the air is used up in
the tiny brick casket, Fortunato will be dead.
Conclusion
Looking back
Its impossible to know how old Montresor is when he kills Fortunato, but in the second
to the last line of the story, we learn that the murder happened fifty years ago. So
Montresor is probably pushing eighty when hes telling the story. And he could be far
more ancient. More importantly, this conclusion lets us know that Montresor has gotten
away with his crime so far. His vengeance has been a success, and he wants us to
know it.
The Title
'The Cask of Amontillado' - You might be thinking, 'Great. I don't even understand the title - how
am I supposed to understand this story?' So before we can start exploring Edgar Allan Poe's famous
short story, we first need to define a couple of words in his title. Amontillado is a very specific kind
of Spanish sherry, sherry being a fortified wine. And a cask is a barrel. So if we put that all together,
this story could be called 'The Barrel of Sherry,' but 'The Cask of Amontillado' has a much better ring,
don't you think?
Characters
So, aside from being a story about a barrel of wine, Poe's short story is one of revenge and secret
murder. It's a tale of terror starring two main characters: Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor is
the narrator and the murderer. Fortunato is a wine connoisseur and the victim.
Plot
Poe achieves the unity of effect in The Cask of Amontillado
The story begins with the narrator Montresor explaining that a man called Fortunato has wronged
him a thousand times over, but his insult is the final blow that has provoked his vow to revenge. He
continues to assure us that he has given Fortunato no insight to the fact that he is plotting to kill him,
and he plans to use Fortunato's knowledge of wine to lure him to his death.
Montresor continues to narrate his encounter with Fortunato at a carnival. He explains that Fortunato
is dressed as a jester, in a striped outfit and a jester hat with bells. Fortunato is also very drunk, and
he greets Montresor 'with great warmth.'
Very quickly, Montresor entices Fortunato to come to his home to see the pipe of Amontillado that he
has acquired. A pipe is just a word for a barrel. Keep in mind; this is quite a large amount of
Amontillado.
Montresor tells us that his servants are away from the house for the night, so they have the house to
themselves. Montresor's home is large, and according to the details, we can assume it's been in the
family for quite some time. When they arrive, they go into the catacombs via a winding
staircase. Catacombs are underground passages that are often places where the dead are buried.
In this case, these are the catacombs of the Montresors.
Remember, Fortunato is very drunk, and he begins coughing. Montresor says he is concerned for
the man's health and offers him more drink. At this point, Fortunato is getting a bit goofy, jingling with
all of his movements, and accuses Montresor of not being a mason. Montresor says he most
certainly is a mason and shows him a trowel, which is like a small, somewhat-flattened shovel.
When they reach the most remote area of the catacombs, they find a smaller crypt that is lined with
human bones. From there, they see a recessed area, about four feet deep, three feet wide, and
seven feet high. Fortunato continues into this crypt with Montresor's urging him into the smaller
space. Poor Fortunato is so drunk that he is confused as Montresor chains him to the area.
Fortunato is still asking for the Amontillado while Montresor brings in stone and mortar. However,
once Montresor starts building a wall at the entrance of the small area, Fortunato sobers up quickly.
Montresor describes the sounds he hears as he builds, the jingling of Fortunato's bells and the
clanking of the chains.
Once the wall is about half-way up, Fortunato begins screaming, and Montresor mocks him.
Fortunato calms, and says, 'A very good joke indeed,' probably with his last bit of hope. Montresor
humors him for a moment, but soon Fortunato realizes it's not a game. He screams, 'For the love of
God, Montresor,' and Montresor repeats his words. There is silence.
Montresor, who wants Fortunato to continue to beg, becomes impatient and calls out to Fortunato,
trying to provoke him. The man does not respond. In hopes of getting Fortunato to respond in some
way, Montresor throws a torch into the only open area left. He hears the tinkling of bells. He says his
'heart grew sick' but only on the 'account of the dampness of the catacombs,' and he finishes
building the wall. Then he says the events happened fifty years prior. He concludes his reminiscence
with 'rest in peace.'
Analysis: Plot
So, nothing like a story about burying someone alive, right? This particular short story is known as
Poe's perfect piece, with each piece of information, each step of the plot, being intentionally prepared
and executed (no pun intended). Poe called this the unity of effect. Everything is relevant, especially
each part of the plot.
The Plot Diagram
The diagram depicts the vital elements of plot
You might be familiar with the classic elements of plot and the plot diagram. Poe follows this
concept intentionally, making each step of the story important to the next.
The exposition is the introduction to the story. Usually, this is where we learn about characters and
setting. Poe sets the story as Montresor's memory. We discover the main characters and, more
importantly, that Montresor has vowed to seek revenge for Fortunato's insult.
The conflict is what makes the story a story. It's the problem that must be solved. Montresor wants
to seek revenge, but he's not quite sure how. His problem? He wants to seek revenge once and for
all! He has a plan that begins as soon as he encounters Fortunato at the carnival.
The rising action is the detail in the story that leads us further into the characters and lets us
explore the conflict. As Montresor and Fortunato descend into the catacombs, each step is bringing
Fortunato closer to his death (of course, he doesn't know that).
The climax is the highest point of interest in the story. It's the point when the main conflict can be
solved or not solved. Montresor is successful in chaining Fortunato to the wall. At this point, there is
no escape.
The falling action is usually any after-effect of the climax. As Montresor bricks up the wall, we know
it's all over for Fortunato, no matter how much noise he makes.
Finally, the resolution is the conclusion of the story. All of the problems are solved; all loose ends
are tied. We learn that Montresor is old, and the events he described happened fifty years before.
We know he was successful.
Because Poe was working to achieve the unity of effect, each part of his plot is relevant, building on
the previous point and anticipating the next.
