In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character, Montresor, leads his enemy, Fortunato, into his catacombs, and there buries him alive by walling him in a niche in the wall; Poe gives no real reason for this, other than to say that Montresor was "insulted" in some way. In his science fiction work “Usher II,” Ray Bradbury adopts many of Poe's works in creating his story, including pieces of “TCoA.” What distinguishes Bradbury's work from other auteurs who borrow works and reimagine them (Gregory Maguire's Wicked, Geraldine Brooks' March and Peter Carrey's Jack Maggs, for example), is that “Usher II,” in its imaginative way , tries to be one with his predecessor. Bradbury tries to maintain Poe's love of the double and the secret (gothic mentality where the reader is supposed to be a little uncertain about what he is reading and what is happening) by adding, particularly regarding "TCoA", things that Poe never paid much attention to: a beginning, an end and a reason, thus making “Usher II” not only an homage to Poe's work, but a companion piece whose beating heart lies in the original work. according to Professor Epstein of the English department at Queens College, he wrote for the climax, took you there and then left; examples of this can be found in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” where Poe interrupts just before the cops are about to put chains on the narrators, and, as will be illustrated below, in “TCoA.” In “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe writes, regarding the structure of his stories, “It is only with the denouement [the final revelation showing the outcome, or untying, of the plot] constantly in view that we can give a plots its meaning. indispensable air of consequence, or causality, on the part of but...... middle of the paper ...... took Poe's "TCoA" as a whole, as it is, and made it his own by tinkering around the edges, giving it a beginning, and, because the main character has understandable reasons for doing what he's doing, a fitting conclusion that doesn't leave the reader feeling like he's been pushed to the top of a mountain and then left there to go down alone, Bradbury takes Poe's masked figures and raises them for the reader (if not for the characters, who must die because they are not familiar with Poe). Poe's work, nor did he alter its effect; instead, he added his astute creativity to the work of a master storyteller by exposing what was already there. I think that even Poe, who valued originality so highly, would have been amused by Bradbury's retelling of his work. (Either that, or lead him to some dark and dusty catacomb.)