Compare two stories where the characters face difficult situations

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Compare two stories where the characters face difficult situations

In this essay I intend to compare “Your Shoes” by Michele Roberts to “The End of Something” written by Ernest Hemingway. I will compare the two stories where characters face difficult situations. The writers have both faced difficult situations in their lives this has been reflected in the stories. Michele Roberts faced this when she had been living away from her parents.

        In “Your Shoes” the mother finds it challenging to leave the bedroom, “I’ve locked the bedroom door” here it shows the setting signifies how the mother struggles to accept that her daughter has “left me” but instead the mother wants to hold on, “pick up a shoe…and hold it like a baby” the writer has used a simile here to show how important the shoes are. Roberts has also used personification to express how the mother faces difficult situations.

        Furthermore the themes of conflict, relationships and especially loss show how the characters face difficult situations. The theme of loss is revealed, “After my mother died I had to clear out…her shoes hurt me so much” Here the mother had clearly faced enough situations where it was hard for her. Roberts has written this to express her guilt of how she treated her mother. Another important theme is conflict, “when your father called you a dirty slut he didn’t mean you to take it personally” Here the father finds it difficult to accept that his daughter is sexually active. The mother stands up for him by saying “he adores you” here the mother is trying to solve the problem. She doesn’t understand that many fathers feel resentful when their daughters start to grow up. In this way the reader is encouraged to think that all three characters are put in a situation where they couldn’t cope with the truth.

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        Roberts portrays the character of the mother as insecure; she is unable to control herself with the situation. The mother deals with this through, “You’re so innocent, you didn’t realize” here the writer has shown the mother going through a stage of denial. This encourages the reader to think that she couldn’t face the circumstances. Furthermore the mother states that, “It was that mob”. Clearly the mother is being paranoid. The noun “mob” is a term that is insulting, but the mother believes that under no circumstances that it is the fault of her daughter.

        “The End of Something” is ...

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