There are however, many similarities between the two texts, and indeed the two characters. Both are quite alone in the world, having lost their parents early on in their lives. ‘The Half-Brothers’ begins with an account of the birth of Gregory, and the death of his mother, and preceding it, his father’s. Jannita’s mother is never mentioned, but we are told of her father’s death very near to the beginning of the story. As a result of these tragic losses, neither child has anyone to look after them, and both have to endure the treatment of their respective ‘families’. They are both very vulnerable, and this is an attribute that becomes very easy for the reader to sympathise with.
Affection for each character is shown in some form, however. Gregory has a dog, Lassie, whom he looks after, and attends him in his shepherding duties. The animal is treated just as badly by the others in the story, as Gregory is, “Partly for its own demerits, partly because it belonged to Gregory”.
Jannita herds angora goats for her masters, and while she is sleeping, one of the kids comes up and licks her cheek, though Schreiner explains this. It is not out of affection for the child, but for the salt of her dried tears. Despite this, the goats are still a part of her life, yet as with Gregory, they are not human friends. It is pitiful that neither child has anyone to talk to, or confide in. They are truly alone.
Neither Jannita nor Gregory however, is described as being ill natured. Their characters are in fact described as something much to the contrary. The narrator describes Gregory briefly at a point nearing the end of ‘The Half-Brothers’; “He was not a cross lad; he was patient and good-natured, and would try to do a kind turn for anyone, eve if they had been scolding or cuffing him not a minute before”. This is a very effective technique used by Gaskell, as when we read this, we cannot help but wonder why he is so mis-treated, when he I quite clearly a good person.
The same is evident in the case of Jannita, though the description is a little more implicit. Towards the start of the story, Jannita falls asleep whilst she is supposed to be watching her goats. Much to her misfortune, three men nearby take one of the goats. When she returns to the farmhouse, the Boer asks if she has been asleep, as he notices the missing sheep. Implicit clues prior to this are given about the physical punishments Jannita receives from her masters, and most people would lie, to save themselves the pain. Jannita however, owns up, knowing what is going to happen, she is also a good person, and is not shown to be ill natured in any way. Nor, is she described at any point as being mischievous.
The endings of both stories are very similar in some ways, and yet there are clear notable differences also. The main difference, in my opinion, is the situation of the characters change in the course of the text – Jannita escapes her masters, and is free, Gregory stays where he is, and his situation does not change. In the case of Gregory, he leaves silently to rescue his half-brother, the narrator, from the coming storm. He leaves of his own free will, nobody requested him to go. His decision results in his ultimate sacrifice; his life. The story follows much the same pattern in the case of Jannita. She overhears an evil plot by the men whom at the beginning of the text killed her goat, to burn her master’s house, killing all inside, and plundering money and other goods. She has no reason to go to the aid of her old masters, but though she is free, though she would have been safe had she only left them alone, she runs to the farmhouse, to warn the very people who abused and tormented her for so long. As with Gregory, she pays for her goodness with her own life.
The knowledge that both characters were good and kind, and had no obligation to make any sacrifice, went to the aid of such selfish and cruel people, adds to the extent of sympathy that the reader feels for them. The story raises issues of self-doubt within the reader; would you do the same? Could you bring yourself to help someone who was so cruel and hurtful towards you?
I feel that both Gaskell and Schreiner are highly successful in creating sympathy for the main characters, and they achieve this in many ways. Their styles are very different; Schreiner being far more explicit than Gaskell, and the structure of their stories is also very varied. It is interesting to see that whist both texts are about such different things; ‘Dream Life and Real Life’ being far more focused on Jannita’s escape from her tormenting masters, and ‘Half-Brothers’ centreing more around the relationships between Gregory and the other characters, they come to two very similar ends.