The main theme of all the stories I read recently was about unnecessary imprisonment and faith in oneself, in God, in truth and in knowledge. The story that has the most impact in my opinion is “The Bet”. In this story a lawyer makes a three million dollar bet with a banker that he will not be able to last 15 years in prison. This bet arose as a result of a discussion on capital punishment. There are two main characters in the story, the banker and the lawyer. The banker is a flatter character because he is known to feel that he will be right, and later when he finds out that he might be wrong, he becomes very nervous and angry showing the reader that he is most likely wrong. very self-centered. The lawyer, however, has a very dynamic character as the story progresses. This lawyer starts out as a man who seems confident. After the bet is made, he begins to feel a little insecure and his sense of self-worth seems to decrease dramatically. Even though this is true, he does not admit these things to the banker and goes to prison. During his first year in prison he feels very alone and isolated and becomes quite depressed. He is aware that this is not permanent, but he also knows that 15 years is an incredibly long time and in these years he will have a chance to come to terms with himself about the bet. He starts playing the piano to deal with the stress of his situation. In the second year he requires books and stops playing. In the fifth year the lawyer returns to making music and decides to ask for some wine, which he had previously refused because it seemed like a taste of freedom and he wanted to remain faithful to his... half of paper......more man like he was the banker. Even the banker becomes more like the lawyer. The lawyer is more cocky and loving now than he was when he was buried in prison. All aspects of the story help create a strong image in every reader's mind. All the details of the characters and how they interact with each other and how they change are vital to the reader's emotional connection to the story. How the story is told is also significant to the design and delivery of the story. Both men in the story learned about the self, the ego, and forgiveness. Both men walk away damaged even if completely unnoticed by one or both parties. Part of the strength of the story comes from the point of view from which it is told. Point of view provides a relatively third-person view of the situation, free of as much bias as possible.