The stories "Barn Burning" and "The Cask of Amontillado" are not very similar stories. They do, however, have two characters that seem to have a lot in common. Abner Snopes and Montresor both do things that most people would consider insane and inappropriate. Snopes (from "Barn Burning") destroys things to get back at upper class white people because of his treatment. Montresor kills a man because he felt he was greatly offended.
In "Barn Burning", Snopes burns down a barn and destroys an employer's rug because he feels he is mistreated among people of his own race. He is a poor sharecropper trying to make a living. He believes that he is treated wrongly even though contextual evidence would suggest otherwise. When he is on trial at the beginning of the story the Justice lets him off. He says there is not enough proof to find him guilty. The Justice then tells him to leave the country. Later on, Abner destroys the rug of his employer, Major de Spain. He was not provoked to this. He and his family had just arrived at their new house when Abner decided to go into de Spain's house and rub horse droppings into his carpet. Major de Spain brought the rug to him and ordered it cleaned. Snopes did clean the rug, but he did it with lye soap, which completely ruined the rug. He was treated more than fairly when his payment of twenty bushels of corn went down to ten bushels. This was especially in his favor since it was his fault he got into trouble.
Montresor, in "The Cask of Amontillado", decides to kill his "friend", Fortunato. Fortunato " ventured upon insult- so Montresor feels he needs to get revenge. Fortunato's actions throughout the story suggest that he did not really do anything to insult or hurt Montresor. He greets Montresor as a friend and he follows him into the crypts willingly. He obviously does not think there is a problem between him and Montresor. If he did, he would not have so blindly trusted him.
