Write about the contradiction between the narrator in "The Cask of Amontillado" and Arnold Friend in "Where Are You Going? Where Have You...

There are two different vantage points from which each
story is told. In "The Cask of Amontillado," the narrator is Montresor who has planned
the entombment and death of Fortunato, for an insult he perceives—that is never
identified. Poe (the author) tells this story in the first person point of
view.

In "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?", the
point of view is third person limited omniscient: meaning that the narrator tells the
story, knowing the thoughts of one character: Connie.

The
mood in Poe's short story is set by the narrator: his intent for Fortunato's destruction
is evident from the start. He is bent upon Fortunato's "immolation," and we can "hear"
Montresor's madness in his narration immediately; it continues to build to the climax of
the story when he actually entombs the drunken
Fortunato.

On the other hand, the narrator in "Where Are
You Going? Where Have You Been?" does not come out and tell us from the start that
Arnold Friend is evil personified. (In case you don't know, Oates based this story on
the actual murders of several young girls in Tuscon, Arizona, in the 1960s, at the hands
of a seemingly unlikely young man.)

Arnold Friend's evil is
hard to pin down at first, and may even be overlooked by some readers. His hypnotic,
persistent manner of drawing fifteen-year old Connie into his deadly web only gradually
becomes evident. His threats, at first, are quiet and unobtrusive. His unusual manner of
speaking and the initial impression of youth he gives confuse Connie's undeveloped
instincts that something is very wrong. Even when she realizes he is not so young, and
certainly not the person he is trying to portray himself as being, her inexperience
prevents Connie from knowing what to do.

Arnold's threats
become more direct when he assures her that he won't come into the house unless she
calls the police. The reasoning is hard to follow, but the intent becomes through
clearly enough.

The similarities between Montresor and
 Arnold Friend are that they both lure their victims to their ultimate doom: both
victims are unaware of the intent of their murderer. Fortunato is an old acquaintance of
Montresor, and he is drunk. Connie is young and naive to the evil in the
world.

In the first person narrative by Montresor, the
reader immediately knows the ill-intent of the narrator. The
narrator in Oates' short story requires that the reader continue to follow the plot
development in order to understand the true nature of Arnold
Friend.