The principal characters from the short stories, ‘’The Lady with the Dog’’ by Chekhov, and ‘’Hills like White Elephants’’ by Ernest Hemingway are dishonest with the one they love and with themselves, they hide their real feelings about the person they are with, they are living an untruthful relationship, and as a couple they lie to each other. In ‘’The Lady with The Dog’’, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, they are both unhappily married to other characters, and after a while they engage in an affair, hiding their feeling to each other, just because they do not want to break up their marriages, they do not want more responsibility of what they have with each other. The same matter happens in the ‘’Hills Like White Elephants’’, The American …show more content…
They just think in their own well-being, they are not interested to know what women think, desire, or want. The first example is from ‘’Hills Like White Elephants’’, the American man wants the girl to foul herself if she does the abortion, it doesn’t matter if it is safe for her or not, if it is the right thing to do, or not, if she wants to do it, or not, or the simple question, what she thinks about it. He does not let her to be herself; the only important thing in his life is himself. The American man also tries to convince the girl that she has a free will, when his intention is that she must do the ‘’operation’’ if she wants to be with him happily ever after, but we know he doesn’t want a happily ever after with her. ‘We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before’’ the American man tells the girl just to make her agree to do what he wants her to do. “I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.” (The American man). He is an uncommitted man, who does not have any responsibility with anyone, but after all, he does not respect the women as he is supposed to do it like a gentleman. He does not believe women and men has the same rights, he really thinks women are under men, and that women have to do whatever the men say in order to keep the peace between them. This male chauvinism thinking has not been developed just by the American man; over the years, it is also develop by the vast majority of the men population. A similar thing happens in the ‘’ Lady with the Dog’’. Dmitri is a man who believes women have no rights, that they are in the world just to satisfy men sexual desires. We can identify Dmitry feels about women, principally about his wife, when the author mentions “He secretly considered her unintelligent, narrow, inelegant, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at
The two novels, Animal Farm, written by George Orwell and The Sky So Heavy, by Claire Zorn explore the theme of oppression through characterisation. Animal Farm is a novella depicting the lead up to the Russian Revolution, with characters from the events taking part in the story as animals. In The Sky so Heavy, Finn and his peers are stranded in a nuclear winter, hopelessly trying to source food for survival. The characterisation of Napoleon in Animal Farm and Finn in The Sky So Heavy both portray similar oppression through their speech. Napoleon portrays oppression when he states, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (90), similarly to Finn; “our world was made from the dull light filtered through the gauze
Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. Through history women have fought for equal rights and freedom. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children. Only recently with the push of the Equal Rights Amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself. Two interesting short stories, “The Yellow Wall-paper and “The Story of an Hour, “ focus on a woman’s plight near the turn of the 19th century. This era is especially interesting because it is a time in modern society when women were still treated as second class citizens. The two main characters in these stories show similarities, but they are also remarkably different in the ways they deal with their problems and life in general. These two characters will be examined to note the commonalities and differences. Although the two characters are similar in some ways, it will be shown that the woman in the “The Story of an Hour” is a stronger character based on the two important criteria of rationality and freedom.
During the era in which these stories were written, marriages were an economic arrangement which had very little to do with love. In both stories, the couples seem to have an ideal marriage, which eventually turns to aloofness. This could be that ending a marriage during this time was unheard of.
Theme is defined as the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic. Throughout literary history, authors have been using theme to bring a story together and make a point. In order to make a story have a resounding feeling in readers, authors use themes to leave an underlying message which are usually lessons and morals that should be widely taught, such as in children’s books or in fables. In all three stories, “A Rose for Emily”, “Hills like White Elephants”, and “Harrison Bergeron” the author’s use a mutual theme of death and further show how death brings change to each of the main character’s lives in different
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
In the short story “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” by Junot Diaz, the author pinpoints on the Yunior’s life as a writer and college professor who is also struggling with his romantic relationships. The short story is filled with his experiences of using women for his beneficial needs and how it negatively affects him. It focuses on Yunior’s downfall through life after the destruction of his relationship with his fiance. The diction includes the narrator’s hateful consideration of women and a paradox of his own endeavors which prevent him from pursuing a meaningful relationship, but he grows to realize that he treats women awfully and his ex did the right thing by leaving him due to his untruthfulness.
In “Hills like White Elephants” and “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway the reoccurring use of the thought of death is found in both stories. His minimalistic style of writing makes it difficult to see at first, but toward the end, the importance of understanding the impact of the characters’ thoughts of death becomes clear. The characters in both stories are completely different, but there feelings on the thought of death are very similar. In “Hills like White Elephants” the antagonist Jig and the antagonist the older waiter in “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” have similar feelings of sorrow and despair on the thought of death. On the other hand, both protagonist the American and the younger waiter both feel burdened and have a
As the story begins, the character of the husband has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, is narrow-minded, and is jealous of his wife’s friendship with a blind man named Robert. His constantly complains that “a blind man in my house was not something [he looked] forward to” (362). The close outside friendship between the narrator’s wife and Robert provokes his insecurities. This friendship has lasted for ten years and during those years, they have exchanged countless tapes regarding experiences they have gone through. Because of this, her husband feels “she [has] told him everything or it so it seemed” (363) about their relationship.
In “Cross-Country Snow” as well as the other short stories compiled in Ernest Hemingway’s novel In Our Time, a strong aspect of the story seems to be the relationship between couples. These relationships are almost always faulty in some way, often causing readers to wonder why on earth the pair is together. On rare occasions in which the relationship is a positive one, or seems to be, it is sabotaged by one of the two people in it. This seems to mirror Hemingway’s own life, as he was married four times and divorced three. Whether it’s Nick and Marjorie, Mr. and Mrs. Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Elliot, or any one of the other pairings in the book, Hemingway seems to be of the opinion that most relationships are fated to fail, whether by circumstances
This short story is about a couple arguing about abortion. The girl, Jig, does not want to, but the American man says that it is the only thing between them. The girl wants to continue on with her life of exploring the world with the addition of the baby, but the man says that it would take the world away from them. The man has experience in this, but the woman seems not to. She is reluctant, and does not want to talk about it any more after a point. There are many elements in the story, such as disconnection, manipulation, dominance, innocence, and irresponsibility.
Chekhov’s portrayal of love is as an emotion that solidifies itself only if the precise person is encountered. However, Chekhov takes his idea even further through his characters Dmitri and Anna, by stating through them, that love may be discovered, even after marrying the “incorrect person.” This fact is made clear when Chekhov writes “I don't know what he does there, what his work is, but I know he is a flunkey! I was twenty when I was married to him” through the character Anna. Hemingway on the other hand, instead of giving a view on what love is, his perspective is based on situation that may be mistaken as love. Both of Hemingway’s characters in Hills like White Elephants; Jig and The American, are reluctant to reveal the reality o...
Often, the circumstances of a marriage can leave the people involved feeling empty and unloved. These feelings of hopelessness can lead people to make uncharacteristic choices. Adultery, even in a marriage without love, can have a dramatic effect on the people involved. For the adulterous partner, the feelings of guilt and anxiety can often lead to overwhelming confusion. The short story "The Lady with the Pet Dog" by Oates, shows how the act of cheating creates confusion in the mind of the main character through use of an unchronological structure, and unusual character development.
Compare and contrast the poems The Tyger and The Donkey and discuss which poet gives us the clearest depiction of humanity. William Blake is a wealthy, upper-class writer who separates himself from the rest of the wealthy community. Blake has a hate for the techniques used by many of the wealthy, company owners who gain and capitalise through cheap and expendable labour, supplied by the ever-growing poverty in the country. Blake makes a point to try and reveal this industrial savagery through his work. "The Tyger" is presented as a metaphorical approach to the struggle between the rich and the poor; good and evil.
Writers have different motivations on why they decide on what they write about. It must be something that will grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read their works. Often writers include situations that are not considered appropriate for the era when the piece was written. Some subjects are too sexually explicit. In two such short stories, Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” and Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Little Dog,” both writers chose to involve adultery in their stories. Whatever motivation there is to cheat on a spouse, there is not an acceptable reason to do it. This controversial subject was not common and both authors chose to break the rules. Although equally successful in their writings, Chopin’s “The Storm”, was not published until many years after her death.
Kate Chopin is one of the most astounding writers of early American short fiction. This author is considered to be among the “most important women in nineteenth-century American fiction” ("Katherine Chopin"). She was also “a significant figure in American feminist literature”(Kort, par 1). One of her famous short stories is called “The Storm”. This article deals with the subject of infidelity and sexual fulfillment outside of marriage without moral judgments, which can be found in this piece.