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Initiation, And The Cask Of Amontillado By James Hurst

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Our world deals with many elements that make our time on Earth more interesting. Every single day each person has the opportunity to make their own decisions. Each person chooses their own path to go down, which can lead to a superior and confident path or the diatribe and stingy trail (Hook). Every person in the world, reputable or execrable, have their own flaws. There is an inadequacy in each person that can make it hard to decipher if a character is a true protagonist. In the short story’s “Initiation” by Sylvia Plath, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, and “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, it can be hard for the readers to tell who the true protagonist is in each of the plots (Transition). Imperfections and eccentric …show more content…

Her moral weakness is that she cares more about her popularity status than loyal friends. “What girl at Lansing High would not want to be in her place now? Millicent thought, amused. What girl would not want to be one of the elect… Even Tracy had been wistful when she heard that Millicent had been one of the five girls to receive an invitation” (Page number). The infirmity of Millicent is that she is blinded by the popularity road that she is headed down and not even caring about her true friends. The fact that the main character is leaving her devoted friends behind for selfish reasons can make it difficult to see that she is the true protagonist of her story. Protagonist due what is in the best interest for themselves and everyone around them trying to cause the least amount of damage as possible. On the other hand good guys are flawed like everyone else which can lead to poorly made decisions which they later fix. Millicent thought that Tracy was fine with her decision which made her think it was the right one. She was abandoning Tracy, but once she figured out she needed her friend more than popularity Millicent fixed her mistakes. This made her the protagonist of her own adventurous story. The protagonist from this story is similar to the “Scarlet Ibis,” because both of their moral weaknesses come from …show more content…

When Montresor finishes his task he has heartbroken not only the wife of Montresor but himself. He says “(his) heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so… For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!” (page #). This story is narrated by Montresor who is unreliable, which makes the decision of whether he is a protagonist harder. Along with being unreliable he also has a moral weakness of the desire of vengeance through his cunning ways. The undependable narrator states that Fortunato has put Montresor through a “thousand injuries” which he borne the best he could until ”(Fortunato) ventured upon insult (he) vowed revenge” (page #). With Montresor's deceiving ways and with Fortunato being intoxicated Montresor gets his revenge by essentially burying Fortunato alive. Montresor is essentially psychotic, but in his mind, he is helping himself and others by getting rid of Fortunato. His moral weakness goes away once the killing of Fortunato was completed, but he lives in sorrow along with the wife of Fortunato. He is the “hero” and “villain” of this story in his mind. Montresor is not a sound person so in his mind, he helped everyone by killing him and also hurting them at the same time. He is the overall protagonist because without looking at the final emotions Montresor still feels

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