In Superman and Paula Browns New Snowsuit the main character feels

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In Superman and Paula Browns New Snowsuit the main character feels

betrayed by others. Compare how feelings of betrayal are shown in this

story and another story of your choice.

a) The ways in which the main character is let down by others.

b) How the authors show the feelings of betrayal by the way in which

they write.

c) Differences in the stories.

I am going to talk about themes of betrayal, comparing "Superman and

Paula Browns New Snowsuit" and "Chemistry". In both of these stories,

some characters are betrayed. The narrator in "Superman and Paula

Browns New Snowsuit" is betrayed by her community when they think she

is guilty of pushing over Paula Brown and ruining her new coat. She

felt especially betrayed by her Uncle Frank, whom she compares with

Superman, as he is her hero in the story. When he does not believe

her, she describes it as; "the year the war began and the real world,

and the difference." The experience taught her lesson, and marks the

end of her childhood. In "Chemistry", it is Grandfather, who is

betrayed by his daughter and Ralph. The narrator, his widowed mother

and grandfather once lived together in harmony in the grandfathers'

house. Their harmony is disturbed by the arrival of Ralph, his

mothers' boyfriend. Grandfather becomes increasingly isolated when his

daughter and Ralph are mean to him so he retires to his shed, and

eventually commits suicide, leaving the others to begin a new life.

The stories are both about themes of betrayal, and at the same time

are very contrasting stories. "Superman and Paula Browns New Snowsuit"

is about more trivial things, a Snowsuit being ruined, but it was

important to the narrator because it showed her the "real world", and

taught...

... middle of paper ...

...s much more factual whereas the other is more

opinionated and uses much more metaphors and similes. The style of

"Chemistry" is such that it always seems to keep to the point, and

when there are sometimes long descriptions about things which do not

seem t first important, there always seems to be a hidden meaning

behind them, for example the door to the shed which symbolised a "step

out" or half way out of life for Grandfather. In "Superman and Paula

Browns New Snowsuit" there are a lot of things which do not have much

significance to the story, and which add more detail to just set the

scene; "he taught me some ju-jitsu in the living room until mother

called us for supper". They have some similarities, they are both

about relationships between family, and about their childhoods. They

are also about changes in their lives and in the way they look at

life.

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