Compare And Contrast Salesman And The Veldt

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The Hadley’s, a family that has everything, a house that cost about $30,000 in a time where the average house cost $8,200, which rocks them to sleep and ties their shoes. The White’s, a family that must work for everything and wish for certain possessions, such as money. These families showcased in two different short stories seem like polar opposites, and while they are very different, they have more in common than what is portrayed on the surface. The “Monkey’s Paw” deals with a family that is able to make it by, however their monetary situation could be improved, and they find themselves coming across a talisman that caused them nothing but issues. On the other hand, “The Veldt” deals with a family who is spoiled and has access to everything …show more content…

Both short stories, “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs and “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury discuss the theme of how luxury must be limited, however the texts discuss this theme in both similar and different ways. First of all, one way the two stories represent the theme of the need to limit luxuries is differently, mainly as a result of the two families extremely unlike financial situation. One example of how the theme is displayed differently is the amount of wealth the families have in the stories. In “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, the amount of opulence the family possess is inexpressible and this is shown when the author describes the Hadley’s home, “They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, which has cost them thirty thousand dollars installed, this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them” (Bradbury 1). This quote shows the ludicrous amount of wealth the Hadley’s have because of how the author describes certain qualities of their home. On the other hand, the amount of riches the White’s have access to in “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs is significantly less than that of the Hadley’s, and this is depicted when the author describes that one of the …show more content…

As a whole, while both short stories may seem like don’t have anything in common, they happen to have a number of both similarities and differences when discussing the theme of limiting luxury. This is important because there is more to a story than just the surface, and when you dig a bit deeper you are able to discover other parts of the story that may connect to other pieces of literature that may not have been obvious before. After comparing both stories, it is clear that they share ideas and it leads to the idea that there is a whole other layer of a story than what is obvious on the

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