The story focuses on the traditions of Native American burial. They partake in some unusual traditions such as painting the face of the dead. They also role the body in a blanket.

Henry enlisted in the Marines during the Vietnam War. When he returned home, he wasn’t the same person. Once a jovial, outgoing person, Henry returned a quiet, isolated individual. As Henry is sulking, Lyman decides to damage the red convertible so that Henry will have something to do while making the repairs.

The brothers go to the river one night, where Henry tells Lyman that he knew how the convertible was damaged. They argued briefly, but then they started laughing together. But suddenly Henry jumped into the river. Lyman jumped in to save him but the current had taken Henry under. Lyman put the convertible into first gear and sent it off the cliff, into the river below.

The story talks about Native American Culture. Aunt Moon falls in love with a man named Isaac. But she doesn’t get approval from her peers. It is hard for her because of her heritage but she is strong willed and will hopefully come out successful.

It turns out that Emily was living a bizarre life that no one knew about. Because her father was a respected man in town, no one suspects anything is amiss with Emily. But when she goes to the pharmacy for arsenic, people think that she is going to commit suicide. The townspeople find a room that no one had entered in 40 years. They find a man’s body who had been dead for many years.

The Woman is interested in the hills because she thinks they look like white elephants. She is upbeat and optimistic about the future. She tells the man that they can go anywhere and do anything they want to. The world is theirs. But the man isn’t so optimistic. He tells the woman that her ideas about the world are can’t happen because “It isn’t ours anymore.” The pair board a train and the story ends.

During the last moments of Granny Weatherall’s life, she asks God to give her a sign of the afterlife. She receives no such sign for the second time, and becomes angry with God. Porter writes, “She could not remember any other sorrow because this grief wiped them all away.” After 80 years, all of Granny Weatherall’s prior incidents become insignificant because of her infatuation with the afterlife.

The story takes on a melancholy mood because it starts and ends with an old woman’s death. She is unhappy right up to the point when she dies. She has bad feelings about her life until the very end.

Montresor lures a man named Fortunato into a wine cellar. Fortunato is very drunk as they make their way to the cellar. Montresor chains Fortunato to a wall and then proceeds to build a brick wall around him.

The beginning of the story mentions that Montresor was insulted by Fortunato and he would get revenge. Montresor concocts a diabolical scheme to lure Fortunato to the cellar where he will kill him. Montresor knew that his counterpart would follow him to the wine cellar because he was drunk and belligerent.