Death In Literature: The Theme Of Death

Death is a universal and unforgiving entity that exists in the natural world. Many individuals fear or accept the concept of death. There are those who found ways to cheat the cruel mistress and must consider themselves lucky. Stories throughout the years have personified death or used it as a symbol of an end or beginning. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, and “A Conversation with My Father” by Grace Paley show how death is consistently represented or manipulated in literature. Death can be used to give an individual clarity or open their eyes to the truth. Flannery O’Conner’s story tells of a grandmother with feeling of superiority due to her ‘lady’ status and whom manipulates

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a peculiar story of a man named Montresor’s quest for revenge against Fortunato. Montresor claimed Fortunato latest insult was the last straw. Montresor approaches Fortunato at a carnival and convinces him to go see his new wine called Amontillado. As the story continued, Montresor’s intentions become even clearer when readers learn that Montresor’s normal attendants were not home like usual, he coaxes Fortunato into the catacombs of the Montresor’s, and how the inebriated Fortunato follows with little complaint. If Fortunato was not so drunk, he would have felt skeptical about being surrounded by so many of the dead and realize his end was near. So many bones were around them that it become clear that Montresor’s ancestors committed such acts, especially when “two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet horizontally” were found in a room of the crypt (Poe 229). The catacombs had been tainted by revenge fueled death already. The thirst for death flowed through the veins of Montresor and it would be quenched with the demise of Fortunato. When Fortunato finally died, Montresor seemed to feel little remorse and only wished for him to rest in peace. It showed that his brain could not fathom any other solution besides death and many would

Grace Paley’s short story tells of a young woman talking with her sick father and writing stories at his request. The young woman’s first story lacked detail, most likely because she was trying to appease her father, but he finds this to be a problem. He prompts her to write a new one. He knows his death is near and it urges him to look at life under a microscope. He wanted to know every detail, including the looks of the mother and her family life. The daughter comes up with a revised version of the story with much more detail. This appeases him somewhat, but he called her story was a tragedy due to the end and daughter disagreed. The mother in her story struggled with drugs along with her son and when he became healthy, she continued to struggle. It is revealed the story is based off a real person the daughter knows and the mother overcame her addiction and moved on. The daughter argued that when ‘The End’ is written in the story, it does not always mean it is the end of the character’s life. She believes even fictional characters move on to better things, despite no longer being written. It is not clear if this was her outlook on life before or after her father’s illness but her ideas contrast with his own. The knowledge that he would be dying soon seemed to make the father bitter. He refused to see the bright side to life and told his daughter, “what a tragedy. The end