Saguaros. Mentors Although Croft and Mentors share certain qualities in their actions, attitudes, and personalities, they also differ in several approaches, including their motives and incentives for murder, producing two similar yet unique characters. Both characters have the same intention, but act upon their foes by implementing different schemes. Croft seeks to kill Rainstorm while Mentors wants to kill Fortunate. Croft, an experienced hunter, applies guns, knifes, and dogs to track his enemy, while
Mentors utilizes stones and mortar to trap his foe. Furthermore, both men employ an underground facility to manipulate their victims. Croft implements a dungeon below his house to hold his victims hostage before hunting them on his island. In addition, Mentors takes advantage of his underground catacombs by “bowing Fortunate through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults” in order to trap him(Poe 2). However, Mentors is successful in killing his enemy, but Croft is instead defeated by his adversary.
Aside from their actions, their attitudes and personalities are comparable but distinctive as well. Both Croft and Mentors are exceptionally clever men with mischievous minds, and exploit tools of deception to toy with their enemies. Croft rouses Rainstorm by presenting their battle as “a game worth playing. Your brain against mine… Your strength and stamina against mine,” and presented the game as “outdoor chess”(Connell 7). On the other hand, Mentors tricks Fortunate by “accosting him with excessive warmth, for Fortunate had been drinking much”(Poe 1).
In both stories, Croft and Mentors want to be relieved of burdens by searching for answers to their problems. Across dilemma is that “hunting had ceased to be what you call a sporting proposition. It had become too easy… And there is no greater bore than perfection”(Connell 5). Croft has an extremely cocky attitude and has an adventurous personality. Therefore, he searches for challenges, and he hunts humans like Rainstorm to appease his desire.
In contrast, Mentors is seeking murder because of “the thousand injuries of Fortunate hat [he] had borne as best [he] could; but when Fortunate ventured upon insult, [he] vowed for revenge”(Poe 1). Mentors is an unforgiving man of bitterness and seeks to strike back at the man who caused him great pain. In reality, both men have brutal attitudes and are willing to murder for their peace of mind. Croft and Mentors are both intriguing minds with similar actions of deceit and death, but attempt their schemes with different attitudes and motives.
