In this essay I am going to compare and contrast the darkness out there by Penelope lively and the withered arm by Thomas Hardy.

COMPARING WITHERED ARM TO DARKNESS OUT THERE

Introduction

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast the darkness out there by Penelope lively and the withered arm by Thomas Hardy. Two short stories themed around prejudice and superstition. Penelope Lively’s story is a modern day depiction of one girls prejudices being reversed after spending an afternoon with an old lady and a boy her age. The children find out the old lady is not as sweet and innocent as she appears.

In contrast the withered arm features much more superstitious behaviour due to the era the book was written in. the stories are linked with the high level of and prejudice.

In the darkness out there the story begins with Sandra and Kerry who are part of the ‘good neighbours club’ and are going to visit Mrs Rutter. The way the first paragraph is written highlights the fact that Mrs Rutter is supposedly an innocuous, innocent old lady. We know this because Pat describes her as “Mrs Rutter at Nether cottage…She’s a dear old thing, all on her own, of course, we try to keep an eye. A wonky leg after her op. and the home helps off with a bad back this week.” The writer chooses to adopt a stereotypical view of the lush English countryside but then switches the focal point to the deep contrast of the woods in Packers End, “She walked through flowers, the girl, ox-eye daisies and vetch and cow parsley…It was a rank place, all whippy sapling and brambles and the gully with a dumped mattress and bedstead and an old fridge. And, somewhere, presumably, the crumbling rusty scraps of metal and cloth and… bones?” When Kerry and Sandra amalgamate at the cottage Mrs Rutter instantly suggest Kerry does all the work while Sandra sits and talks with Mrs Rutter, for the best part of the conversation witch takes place it is bland but pleasant, they talk to each other playing on each others stereotypes where Sandra talk to the old lady in a soft tone commenting on how lovely the flowers are whilst the woman somewhat patronises Sandra talking about boys and girly things. In both conversations they do not venture past the niceties of life. When Sandra goes to see Kerri in the garden he clearly states he does not like Mrs Rutter, when he says this Sandra gets slightly heated and sticks up for the old lady making excuses for her about how she was made a widow. You get the impression Mrs Rutter does not like Kerry because she gave him the nasty outdoor jobs to do, but it is not until the boy comes in to the cottage that the conversation becomes interesting. He persists with the story about the downing of the plane until Mrs Rutter lets the story out. She describes how the two front passengers died but the rear passenger was alive, her and her sister Dot went to see the bodies and plane to make sure they were allies but it was a German war plane, Mrs Rutter described how she let the young man die in agony which lasted 3 days. Straight after this Kerry announced his departure closely followed by Sandra. It seems the boys view of Mrs Rutter was correct and she was very strange, Sandra was very taken back by the whole scene of events and her stereotypical view of Kerri and Mrs Rutter had changed by the end of the story.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The withered arm is about a woman named Rhoda who had an illegitimate child with farmer lodge. Rhoda is very bitter of the fact that she has not got farmer lodge as a partner. The reason for this is that she is in a lower social class to him. Farmer lodge got married to Gertude. The story opens with milkmaids chatting about the marriage of farmer lodge and Gertude and they acknowledge quietly that they should not gossip too much as to offend Rhoda whose illegitimate child is the farmers son. Then we find out that Rhoda’s 12 year old son has always been unacknowledged by the farmer we know this because he ignores the boy when he sees him in town (market place) with Gertude. Later Rhoda has a vision in which the hand upon which the new brides wedding ring was on became withered. There is a chance meeting between the boy and Gertude in which she promises to bring him a new pair of ‘hoot’s’ which she does later that day out of pity and kindness. Gertude visits the boys house frequently to talk to him and his mother (Rhoda) #as they become better acquainted Gertude reveals her arm has some strange markings in it just as if someone had grabbed it just like in Rhoda’s dream. “she did not reason on the freaks of coincidence.” She begins to be conscious that her arm may put her husband off and make him dislike her, it is ironic that she is seeking advise from Rhoda who had a premonition about Gertudes withered arm. It is also ironic how Rhoda had wished this against Gertude through her jealousy, but now she feels Gertude is a nice person she is starting to feel guilty. At first Gertude dismissed going to see conjuror Trendle because she does not believe in witchcraft and she is not a superstitious person, but later took up the opportunity, as it was her only choice. He told Gertude that it is incurable by medicine and is a work of an enemy. The man showed her a vision in some glass which she could see who wished this curse upon her, 6 years later we find out it was Rhoda who wished ill upon her, but she would not think it was her because she thinks that Rhoda would have no reason to think ill of her but now she is wandering that maybe the son is the son to farmer lodge and therefore the reason Rhonda thought ill of her out of jealousy. After 6 years she goes to see Trendle again, this time convinced that he can help her withered limb. Trendle says the only way that he knows to cure her withered lime that has never failed to his knowledge is to tough the neck of a hanged man with the withered limb, to turn the blood and change the constitution. For months she acted not on Trendles cure but thought of it constantly for the craving of renewed love and through the median of renewed beauty. She waited months for a hanging, there was a hanging in July but only one for arson, the problem was not how to get there but on which means she would get into the jail. The Thursday before the Saturday of the hanging farmer lodge had to go on business and was very sorry he could not take Gertude with him but he was surprised at her want to stay home there was a time where she would beg the opportunity to go with him. She travelled by horseback to the jail on the Saturday with a note to the servants to close up as normal at 10pm if she has not yet returned. She arrives in Casterbridge and realises she should use her beauty as a pass key into the jail, so she finds out where the hangman lives and goes to visit him and later befriends him. The next morn at noon the man was hanged and later brought fourth for Gertude to touch, she tentatively she touched the mans neck where the noose had lied which indeed turned the blood like Trendle had said but as it did so farmer lodge and Rhoda entered the room to claim the body for burial. Gertude collapsed at the sight and never regained consciousness and died three days later Rhoda and farmer l;odge were only seen occasionly after the event but never in Casterbridge Rhoda returned to her parish whilst farmer lodge moved away to Port-Bredy.