Comparing the characters in the books 'Salt On the Snow' and 'The Withered Arm'

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Comparing the characters in the books 'Salt On the Snow' and 'The Withered Arm'

'Salt on the Snow' was written by Rukshana Smith in 1988. It tells the tale of Julie, a young girl wanting to be a volunteer. She is told to go and help an Asian family to learn to speak English and the story carries on from there. Julie then makes friends with one of the girls ,Rashmi, from the family and later on in the story the friendship is made very strong. The short story 'The Withered Arm' is a pre 19th century text written by Thomas Hardy. It is about Rhoda, a poor woman who works on her farm and a woman called Gertrude who has recently married a well-off farmer and they have just moved into the village. One night Gertrude discovers strange marks on her arm, which leads to trouble later on in the book.

The characters Rhoda and Rashmi in the books are both underprivileged and do not lead very happy lives but the character Gertrude has a good life and is quite generous. The character Julie does not really have a good life due to the fact that her family is very racist and that all her friends have passed their exams and have now moved away. Julie did not do very well at school and she is quite depressed, due mostly to the fact that she is still living at home. Rhoda and Rashmi are quite like one another as they both need help getting through life. For example, Rashmi can't speak English so when the situation arose where her little brother ran away she couldn't get help due to the fact she couldn't get help from the police or a member of the public because she could not speak English. They are also quite dependent characters because in Rashmi case she is made to look after the family and to clean up all the time and she is always quite anxious due to the fact that she is really in hiding from people like the immigration office. In  Gertrude's case she lives in an isolated area and does not meet many people because she wants to run here own life. She is quite envious of other people for example when her son saw Rhoda for the first time Gertrude asked many questions about her, in this instance due to the fact that Rhoda's husband is her sons father from their previous relationship.

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Rhoda recognises the "gruesome fascination" which leads her to seek out Gertrude the milkmaid - but she is unwilling to tell the younger woman where to find Conjuror Trendle for fear that she will lose Gertrude's friendship.

In the first section of the book , the gossiping milkmaids admit that no one has seen her, but they have heard she is a "rosy-cheeked, tisty-tosty little body" who is years younger than her husband. The idea is thus set up that she is different from the working girls that are so curious about her.


The second section introduces ...

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