“The Veldt” and “The Cask of Amontillado”

By: Fatimah Siddiqah

Murder is a common crime committed among people of all races and cultures. Everyday in the news, we hear of another murder committed due to “unknown” reasons, but have people ever stopped to consider why? Why do people commit murder, when they can do something else that doesn’t take away an innocent person’s life? In “The Veldt” a short fiction story written by Ray Bradbury, and in “The Cask of Amontillado” a short fiction story written by Edgar Allen Poe, murder is committed due to the hatred of a person. This teaches readers that hatred can lead people to commit irrational actions, such as murder.

In “The Veldt”, two ten year old children kill their parents as a result of their parents saying no to them after continuously spoiling them for many years. The moment the parents start to become strict, the children become angry and vengeful. When the children’s psychologist asks George Hadley, the father, if he has any clue why the children are acting strangely he says, “I’ve taken a few machines from the house and threatened them, a month ago, with closing up the nursery unless they did their homework. I did close it for a few days to show I meant business.” In “The Cask of Amontillado”, a man named Montresor kills his friend Fortunato, because Fortunato has dishonored and made fun of Montresor’s family name. Montresor says in the exposition, “Fortunato had hurt me a thousand times, and I had suffered quietly. But then I heard that he had laughed at my proud name, Montresor, the name of an old and honored family. I promised myself that I would make him pay for this-that I would have revenge.” This shows how angry and ruthless Montresor felt when Fortunato had belittled his family name.

The parents in “The Veldt” notice their children’s aloof behavior. They are able to tell that the children are disappointed with them, and feel suspicious about the children’s choice of setting in the nursery room. In the beginning of the story Lydia calls for George and they start talking about the nursery room. At one point in the conversation Lydia says, “It’s just that the nursery room is different now than it was.” This shows that Lydia was able to detect that something was seriously off about the nursery room. As the story progresses, George also notices the abnormality of the nursery room. The purpose of the nursery room is to help the children channel their emotions, so the parents find it both creepy and strange that the nursery room has been on the setting of an African veldt for the past month and a half. Another scene that indicates the parents are suspicious of the children’s behavior is when they think that the screams from the nursery room are oddly familiar. “And suddenly they realized why those other screams had sounded familiar.” This is the scene in which the parents are about to be killed and eaten by the lions.

While the parents are aware of the children’s hatred and disappointment of them, Fortunato is not aware of Montresor’s hatred towards him in “The Cask of Amontillado”. Fortunato believes that Montresor is unintelligent, and doesn’t know of his continuous bigotry of Montresor’s honored family name. Fortunato makes the mistake of trusting Montresor too much and too easily. He doesn’t understand that Montresor is about to murder him until the very end. He gets fooled by Montresor and lead into deep underground tunnels to “drink wine”, yet Fortunato doesn’t find this suspicious at all even though he is a business man. At the end, while Montresor is burying Fortunato alive with stones, Fortunato says, “Montresor! Ha-ha. This is a very good joke, indeed. Many times will we laugh about it-ha-ha-as we drink over wine together-ha-ha.” This shows that Fortunato didn’t realize what Montresor was doing, until the crime had been accomplished. “I heard only a soft, low sound, a half-cry of fear.” This is thought by Montresor at the end, after he has finished burying Fortunato alive, which shows that Fortunato realizes what Montresor has done a little too late.

In both “The Veldt” and “The Cask of Amontillado”, murder is common action committed in the stories. While the parents are somewhat aware of the children’s actions in “The Veldt”, Fortunato is completely oblivious towards Montresor’s hatred of him in “The Cask of Amontillado”. This teaches the reader that hatred can lead people to do irrational actions, such as murder. In society today, many people are murdered by friends, family-people whom they love dearly. Police officers, investigators, and news reporters always state the reason is unknown or the murderer had some type of a mental disease. People believe this quickly, yet never stop to wonder if the murder was actually committed out of hatred. Knowing the true intents behind a persons actions is important in order for us to be able to help that person. So, take a moment to think, are all murders caused by mental issues, or are their darker secrets behind the action?