In D. H. Lawrence's "The Rocking Horse Winner" and Graham Greene's "The Destructors" the reader can immediately see both the differences as well as the similarities in both stories from the authors' choices of setting, tone, and characterization. The author's use of imagery and the plot in both stories makes it clear that materialism can play a great part in how people's attitudes and behavior are affected and altered towards others because of a lifestyle filled with misfortune.
In "The Destructors" and "The Rocking Horse Winner", the authors' background and writing dispositions are very similar. Both authors are British and once lived in London. Lawrence and Greene both convey a setting that takes place after the Great Britain war. Their stories involve families with upper-class status but struggles because of insufficient income, while still holding on to a form of their perceived identity of wealth. The family in "The Rocking Horse Winner" lives in a pleasant house with a garden with discreet servants. They feel themselves to be superior to anyone in the neighborhood (Lawrence 365). Trevor in "The Destructors" comes from a family "that had come down in the world" since his father lost his job as an architect becoming a clerk. Even though there is a change in wealth, a glimpse of his mother's attitude is revealed as she still consider herself to be better than the neighbors. Where the setting of the "Rocking Horse Winner" being inside a large rich looking house with voices crying out for more money; the setting of the "The Destructors" starts being outside in the obliterated city only to go into a house to destroy it.
The tone of the "Rocking Horse Winner" is set in the very first sentence as the author introduces a be...
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...bly too young to work becomes an obsessive gambler winning money for his mother to earn income that grown-ups usually do. Poverty is turned to fortune but turns back to poverty as the boy's mother spends the money hastily because of her greed and selfishness. Then tragically the precious life that she had but did not love who brought her luck comes to a sudden end.
In "The Rocking Horse Winner" the characters were more concerned about their selfish desires and need than with the relationship of family. Misfortune brought resentment and bitterness focusing on materialism than love. The same theme is seen in the "Destructors." Not only did the gang uncarelessly destroyed the house of another because of the misfortunate environment that they found themselves, but even at the end a driver laughs after he realizes that Mr. Thomas' house fell in his face.
Throughout quarter three, our class has read four short stories, each one portraying human behaviors. I am comparing and contrasting two characters from “Miss. Brill” by Katherine Mansfield and “The Destructors” by Graham Greene. Miss. Brill and Old Misery or Mr. Thomas have many similarities and differences including the internal forces that affect them and the external forces that make them who they are.
Shirley Jacksons short story The lottery and Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, Harrison Bergeron are both dystopian texts. They demonstrate a way of life that violates our sense or rightfulness but are found acceptable and ordinary to the characters. A dystopian world is often propagandized as being a utopia and has a futuristic totalitarian or authoritarian government that exerts complete control over the public which results in the loss of individuality and freedom. Even though both texts have entirely dissimilar concepts the reader can still recognise the depraved and immoral lives the characters believe are essential to their way of life. The societies portrayed in both texts are illusions of utopian worlds, even though the reader views the characters lifestyle to be revolting, dehumanized and sickening. The authors also caution the readers of the extreme dangers associated with the blind acceptance of their lifestyle just because of tradition and society’s acceptance.
The setting in the stories The Lottery and The Rocking-Horse Winner create an atmosphere where the readers can be easily drawn in by the contrasting features of each short story. This short essay will tell of very important contrasting aspects of settings in that while both stories are different, both hold the same aspects.
When comparing the themes of each story, surprising similarities arise. First, both are developed around the lives of children. In “The Destructors” a group of boys called the Wormsley Gang have the same view of the world around them. They have grown up together and share stories about the bombs that destroyed their town. They also challenge each other to accomplish various tasks. The house that the boys ultimately destroy represents the greediness of Mr. Thomas, an architect who owns the tattered home. The Wormsley Gang called him ‘Old Misery’. In the Rocking Horse Winner”, the story’s plot is thickend by a a young boys obsessive desire to “become lucky”. This young boy, Paul, believes that his house is continually whispering, “…there must be more money…there must be more money”. Paul is able to relate the self-proclaimed dissatificatoin of his mothers life with the odd mood of his house. Paul knows that although his mother appears to have everything together on the outside, she does not love him on the inside. Paul believes that he can please his mother if he is able to find a way to give her more money. In both stories, the houses were very symbolic.
In a young boy’s life, making the morally right choice can be difficult especially when the choice goes against someone that is suppose to be respected, such as a parent. “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner is a coming of age story about a son of a poor and evil sharecropper. Showing the difference between good and evil, Faulkner uses character descriptions and plot, revealing Sarty’s struggles’s as he chooses between making the morally right decision or to be loyal to a dishonest father.
There are many differences and similarities between Graham Greene’s “The Destructors” and D.H. Lawrence’s “Rocking Horse Winner.” One general difference is that in “The Destructors” the setting is in Great Britain, after the bombing had happened during World War 1, when the buildings were destroyed. The setting of “Rocking Horse Winner” is a suburban community located on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland. This one distinct difference affects the entire background of each story. The setting of “The Destructors” brings mood and feeling into the story were ass the setting of “Rocking Horse Winner” is just a general setting which could be changed and would not have a significant affect on the story as a whole. One general similarity between the two stories is that they both have a young boy as the main character, but the use of this character is very different in each story. The boy in “Rocking Horse Winner” is more innocent and unknowing of the evil the world can hold, he also hasn’t reached the rebellion stage of adolescence. In the other story “The Destructors” you have “T” who comes from a high class English family but is forced into poverty by the war, but he has already begun his rebellion against what is “good.” The similarities and differences between money, class, and family values in the stories are much more significant because they have more affect on each story and on the reader.
Sarty has moved twelve times in his ten years of age and although the story does not state clearly, that this is not the first time his father has set fire to a barn, but shows that the chances are, that he probably has done this in the past which has affected Sarty in how he feels about his father. Sarty’s other family members include the mother, aunt, an older brother, and two twin sisters who are minor contributing factors in this story. The family knows the father is responsible for the burning of the barns and they even unwillingly help him at his requests. This story describes the family somewhat concerned for the father, but they never challenge his decision to burn the barns even though it is wrong.
“Barn Burning” is about the struggle of a boy to do what is right during the Post Civil War era. The main character, Sartoris Snopes, is a poor son of a migrant tenant farmer. In the opening scene he is being asked by a circuit judge about the burning of a farmer’s barn by his father. The boy does not tell on his father and is not forced to do so, but he thinks that he would have done so had he been asked. The father, Abner Snopes, served in the Civil War for both sides and has difficulty venting his anger. Usually he does so through the burning of other people’s barns when they wrong him. The symbol of blood is used by Faulkner to contribute to the theme of loyalty to the family.
William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.
The short story, "Rocking-Horse Winner", and the movie based on it contrast considerably. When the written story has ended the movie continues with ideas, which may not come from the author. Three major differences of the two are: the mother, the father, and the ending. In the movie the mother, Hester, is portrayed as a loving and self-sacrificing person. While in the short story she is exposed to be a cold-hearted, and greedy person. Another instance where the short story and movie differ is the role of the father.
“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. (Jackson, pg. 112)” How is it so that a story with such a happy and optimistic beginning ends so horrifically? “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, begins with a calm, but almost eerie normalcy where the townsfolk gather for their annual lottery; the children are at play, and the adults scattered in their groups, talking and laughing joyfully. But at the sight of the daunting black box and the beginning of the lottery, the crowd settles rather quickly. The heads of families draw white slips of paper, one of which contains a black dot. The head that draws the dotted slip paper must draw again, but with only him and his family drawing to determine the member that will be stoned to death. It is at this moment that the audience realizes the horror of the story; Tess Hutchinson, the unlucky lottery winner, is stoned to death by her community, her family, and even her son as they follow an
He always started the fire to burn the barn when the conditions is too frustrating for him to bear and then he moved to other place. However then when he moved to another place, he just have to face another problem, impossible demand from the high class people and he eventually snap and do another arson. The circle of their family is never-ending, they are always moving but they are moving in the same patterns. As people who came from low class society it is evident that they want to start a new life, to be able to someday somehow become part of the high class people. Another thing is that it was also stated that the story takes place somewhere after the civil war, a war to end slavery in south, but then, the south life at the time actually has not change at all. The southern people nature and their characteristics are actually still the same when they still undergo slavery. The difference is, as the story suggest, the high-class become even meaner to the
The main character, Abner Snopes, sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of resentment for wealthy people, he burns their barns to get revenge. Abner’s character over the course of the story is unchanging in that he is cold hearted, lawless, and violent.
Understanding literary elements such as patterns, reader/writer relationships, and character choice are critical in appreciating William Faulkner's Barn Burning. Some literary elements are small and almost inconsequential while others are large and all-encompassing: the mother's broken clock, a small and seemingly insignificant object, is used so carefully, extracting the maximum effect; the subtle, but more frequent use of dialectal words which contain darker, secondary meanings; the way blood is used throughout the story in many different ways, including several direct references in the familial sense; how Faulkner chooses to write about poor, common people (in fact to the extreme) and how this relates to the opinions of Wordsworth and Aristotle; and finally, the relationship between the reader and writer, Faulkner's choice of narrator and point of view, and how this is works successfully.
William Faulkner is concerned with the south and its problems with black slavery. The issues in Barn Burning deal with the conflict between father and son. The theme of this story focuses on justice. The boy, Sarty, objects to his father burning barns and wants people to be treated fairly. His father, Abner, believes his son should respect and support kin. Abner thinks family is right no matter what. Faulkner’s intent is to show that choosing between one’s own family and justice is very difficult to do, and in the end justice must prevail. The theme is best illustrated by its point of view, its characterization, and setting.