Similarities Between The Cask Of Amontillado And The Return

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In the short stories “The cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Return” written by Naugi Wa Thiong’o both display the overall theme of abuse of power throughout a variety of different ways. The first way that the theme is displayed is through manipulation in the stories. In “The cask of Amontillado”, the main character Montresor manipulates Fortunato. Montresor is able to manipulate Fortunato by playing on his exceedingly well knowledge of wine. “He had a weak point” (Poe 3). Montresor states that Fortunato has a weak point in which he follows up with stating that his weak point is wine. In the story Montresor plays on this by offering him wine while they go into the catacombs in order for him to be drunk and not be in the right mind set as a better way to take his revenge. …show more content…

Montresor talks to him in this high sense to feed into his arrogance and pride that is seen throughout the story. “You are a man to be missed. For me, it is no matter” (Poe 37). Montresor claims that Fortunato is more important than he is and that if anything happened to him, he will be missed. Montresor is able to feed into his arrogance and manipulate him into thinking that he thinks highly of Fortunato. In “The Return” manipulation is a theme strongly portrayed by the antagonist, Karanja. Karanja uses manipulation to make Kamu’s parents believe that he had died whilst he was in a detention centre. “Why, who told you I was dead?” (Thiong’o 49). Kamu asked his father this. His father then replied with: “Karanja, son of Njogu”. (Thiong’o 49). Karanja had told Kamu’s family that he had died, he had used his trust that his family had for him, and manipulated them by doing so. Karanja not only told his family, but also his girlfriend that he had died. “Then Karanja came and said that you were dead, your father believed him, and she believed him too” (Thiong’o

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