In 'Dream Life and Real Life' and 'The Half-Brothers', how is sympathy created for the character in each, who makes an important sacrifice?

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Amber Doyle 10IS

In ‘Dream Life and Real Life’ and ‘The Half-Brothers’, how is sympathy created for the character in each, who makes an important sacrifice?  Comment on language used, structure, and techniques.  Use reference to the text to support your ideas, and compare the two texts as necessary.

        The two texts begin very differently, Schreiner, in Dream Life and Real Life, immediately begins to build a sense of sympathy in the reader.  She begins repetitive use of adjectives like “little” and “alone”.  On the other hand, Elizabeth Gaskell, in the Half-Brothers, is far more implicit, throughout the story, in her use of language to describe Gregory.  She focuses more on the ill treatment of others toward him; how he is described as “stupid” and “sulky”.  Gregory himself speaks very little throughout the story, though in my own opinion, he is the main character.  We feel sympathy for him, and the verbal abuse he receives from others, as opposed to the obvious physicality of Jannita’s mistreatment in ‘Dream Life and Real Life’; “He asked her why her feet were bare, and what the marks on her back were”.

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        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 ...

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