The Cask of Amontillado
Ironically, the story takes place during the carnival season of madness and merrymaking. Montresor plays on Fortunato's pride in his wine connoisseurship, asking him to verify whether or not Montresor's recent bargain-price wine purchase is expensive amontillado or ordinary sherry. Fortunato agrees over Montresor's protests that it would be an imposition and a health danger, since the vaults where the wine is stored are cold, damp and "encrusted with nitre." Montresor's expressed concern for the other man's well-being is at odds with his true intentions.
the names of the wines noted throughout the story and their possible symbolism. for example, "medoc" for fortunato so he can fend off the cold and "de grave" while he is walking to his own grave.
There are four possible reasons why Fortunato volunteered to check if it were really Amontillado.
1) He was drunk. 2) The festival was going on and he was in high spirits. 3) He wanted to prove that he was better than Luchesi. 4) He was, of course, tricked by Montresor. He put in much exaggeration and falsity into his 'speech' to egg Fortunado into entering the crypt or he would never be able to exact revenge.
"Free Mason refrence" When Montressor was talking about "being" a mason he was probably responding in scarcasim to Fortunato's question. Montressor cleverly knows that he is detering the attention of his drunkin friend when he pulls out his trowel (which is a tool for masony).At that point in the conversation it seems that Fortundo aknowledges he lost the conversation in his intoxication and moves along to the Amontillado.
the abnormal social phenomena exist in the reality,the intrigue among people to gain profits and also the immoral measures people took for panning gold at the Gold Rush Era.
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
PlotThe narrator is sent by a friend on an errand to visit an old man, Simon Wheeler, to find an old acquaintance of his friend, Leonidas W. Smiley. The narrator finds Simon at the "decayed mining camp of Angel's" The narrator asks the fat, bald-headed man of Leonidas. Simon responds that he doesn't know a Leonidas Smiley, but he knows of a Jim Smiley. From there Simon tells the story of Jim.
Themes: A cultured Easterner relates his recent visit to a talkative old man at a western mining camp. Rather than providing information that the Easterner is looking for, the old man keeps him waiting while he spins a tale about a betting man and his pet frog.
Culture Clash: it highlights various aspects of late nineteenth-century American society and culture through the retelling of a tall tale. Central to the story is the idea of conflicting cultures, particularly the clash between the settled, eastern portion of the United States and the still-developing West. At the time Twain wrote the story, the East and its inhabitants had a reputation for being civilized, cultured, and advanced. The West, on the other hand, was still being settled and was considered to be populated.
Style: The frame tale structure. In a frame tale, one story appears in—that is, it is framed by—another story. In "Jumping Frog" the outer tale focuses on Mark Twain and his meeting with the talkative old storyteller, Simon Wheeler. This meeting occurs at the request of a friend of Twain's, identified in some versions of the tale as A. Ward, who supposedly wants to find out about an old acquaintance named Leonidas Smiley. Twain reveals, however, that he suspects his friend's request was merely a practical joke designed to waste his time. Twain's suspicions about the meeting and his descriptions of Wheeler appear in the few paragraphs that open and close the entire story.
blond幽默艺术的四个特点:用夸张的手法突出幽默对象的本质特征;用漫画的技巧追求幽默艺术的深刻性;运用大量土语和俚语增强幽默效果;巧妙地构思出一些奇特、曲折的故事情节,增强幽默的感染力.
A Clean,Well-Lighted Place
The old man is afraid of the darkness and loneliness, He need cafe's whiskey to encourage himself to live, to insist. The cafe represents the soul shelter or the rest harbor
for the two.
One man's loneliness and isolation from the rest of the world. the younger waiter and the older one are different. The older one has more xp in the world, so he can understand the old man better. Nothingness is the keynote of the whole story.
In the end, Hemingway leaves us with an universality to the tale in that: "Many must have it." Not only do many people have the insomnia and sleeplessness, but they also experience loneliness and the need for a clean, well-lighted place in which to feel safe, or perhaps insulated.
Some have argued that Hemingway contrasts light and shadow to differentiate the old man and the young people around him, and uses the deafness of the old man as a symbol for his separation from the rest of the world. Hemingway uses the waiters to judge the old man and portray his views. As a clean drunk, the man does not spill a drop as he drinks and walks "unsteadily but with dignity" when he finally leaves the café. The waiters talk between themselves as the young waiter asks the old waiter the man’s story. He won
ders how anyone could sit alone drinking in the café instead of buying a bottle for himself and drink in the comfort of his own home. It is then the old waiter who defends the man. The old waiter acknowledges that it is better for the man to have many drinks in public than any drinks in private.

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