The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the works "A & P" by John Updike and "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. Specifically it will identify a character in each work that conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly the conventions of their society, and analyze how this nonconformity contributes to the meaning of the works. The two main characters in these works both seem to fit in quite well in "normal" society, and yet they both are nonconformists with their own very different beliefs and morals. The entire meaning and core of these works revolves around these two characters and their nonconformity, without them, the works simply could not exist.
             In "A & P," Updike takes a very simple character, Sammy the checker, and creates a heroic character that stands up for what he believes in – even if it costs him his job. Sammy speaks out against the way his manager treated the girls in bathing suits, but it does not matter. The girls never know it, and Sammy recognizes it is a fight that has changed his life. He thinks to himself, "[M]y stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter" (Updike). Sammy stood up for what he believed in, but he may have picked the wrong reasons to be noble and "heroic." His decision is morally right, however, while the narrator in "The Cask of Amontillado" has much more sinister reasons for his nonconformity. He represents the evil side of not fitting in, while Sammy represents the good side of nonconformity.
             One of the reasons these two stories have so much impact is because of the main characters and their seeming conformity. From the first, it is clear the narrator in Poe's work is vengeful and a little unhinged, but his madness seems fairly harmless, at least at first. Poe indicates there is something profoundly wrong with him and his way of thinking. Poe writes, "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. ...