In this assignment I am going to write about two stories, the Withered Arm written by Thomas Hardy and The Monkey's Paw by W.W.Jacobs.

GCSE English Prose Study

Assignment 2 - Prose Study

In this assignment I am going to write about two stories, the Withered Arm written by Thomas Hardy and The Monkey’s Paw by W.W.Jacobs. The main characters I am going to write about are Rhoda Brooks and Gertrude lodge from the withered arm, Sergeant major and Mr White from the Monkey’s Paw. I have chosen to write about the characters because they are the main interesting characters as well as being most popular in the stories.

The first person I am going to write about is Rhoda brooks, “A thin fading women”. Rhoda is also described in a way as being lonely as she lives on her own with her son. The story does not tell of her being married, but we do know she has a son, who is described as a naughty and mischievous boy, “He was cutting a notch with his pocket knife in the beached backed chair”. We do find out during the story that farmer lodge is the farther of Rhoda Brook’s son, from this we might be able to tell that farmer lodge and Rhoda brook may have had an affair at one time or a maybe a one off.

At the beginning of the story Rhoda Brooks is upset and doesn’t like it at work because Farmer Lodge has just been newly wed and everyone is talking about the new arrival of the new girl into the town “He do bring home his bride tomorrow, I hear”. During this conversation Rhoda Brook seems to not want the others to talk about the new marriage as she says: “Now then, what the Turk do it matter to us about Farmer Lodge’s age or his new misses? .... I shall have to pay him nine pound a year for the rent …. Whatever his age or hers …. Get on with your work”.

In this conversation she tells the workers it doesn’t really matter of what age the new couple are and tells than to get on their work, and stop talking. The story is set in the 1700’s as it mentions the enclosure acts and is set in the south of England in the imaginary Wessex.

At the commencement of the story of The Withered Arm the character of Rhoda Brook is described as being dull, being described as being dull as “A thin fading women”. I can tell this because this is the description given to here at the beginning of the story when she is milking a cow at her farm. A big amount of pressure is upon Rhoda as all the others are talking about the newly couple arriving after their wedding. We can tell this when Rhoda doesn’t want the rest of the workers to carry on talking about the new wife of former lodge. She says the speech as before says “Now then, what the Turk do it matter to us about Farmer Lodge’s age or his new misses? .... I shall have to pay him nine pound a year for the rent …. Whatever his age or hers …. Get on with your work”. She is very annoyed and wants the rest of the workers not to talk about it and tells them to carry on with their work.

Rhoda brook’s lives in a small house built of mud walls, with the surface wearing as the rain has washed off the mud. In the story it tells of how Rhoda uses turf to make the fire, from this I can tell that lives in a poor conditioned house. The way Rhoda dresses is described as being as a bad looking woman, the way she reacts to comments from others is described as being very concerned for Farmer Lodge and being concerned about what others say about the farmer and his new wife Gertrude Lodge.

The character of Rhoda brooks is found in a very serious circumstance when her son dies and Gertrude Lodge goes to the body to heal her illness on her arm caused by the thought from Rhoda in her sleep. Gertrude is just about to approach the corpse when she finds out that the body is of Rhoda Brooks. Soon after Gertrude passes away after her illness on her arm gets worse. Just before Mrs. Lodge passes away she finds out that her husband Farmer Lodge lied to her saying he had to go and do business away from home, when he goes to see Rhoda and her son.

I think the character of Rhoda brooks has changed dramatically from the beginning of the story to the end, as she has moved away from the town she used to live in to some place unknown to the reader due to her feeling very bad about Gertrude having the really bad illness on her arm caused due to the thought of Rhoda while in her sleep one night. I also think the character of Rhoda has got more lonely from when the story started to just before she leaves the town to get away from her trouble and her ...

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The second person I am going to talk about is Gertrude lodge, the wife of Farmer Lodge. Gertrude is described as a “Rosy cheeked, tisty tosty body little enough”. From this description I can tell that the character and looks of Gertrude is very pretty and good looking. At the beginning of the story she has just been married to Farmer Lodge and is upcoming her home town as the new wife of Farmer Lodge. The character of Gertrude Lodge is also a discovered as very kind hearted and wonderful women who really care for other people and is always there to help.

The kind side of Gertrude is found when the newly wed couple arrive into the town and the see Rhoda’s son walking carrying some kind of heavy material on his back, Mr. Lodge tells his wife he does know him and to leave it because the boys are strong and an carry heavy loads. The next day she meet’s the little boy, and asks if the boy was from around the town, he said yes and she also finds out he is the poor boy who is carrying the heavy load. ”Are you the poor boy who had to bring the heavy load from the market”. She discovers while having a look at the boy that he is wearing torn up shoes, she tells him that she would come to visit him and his mother the next day and get him some new boots. “I’ll come and bring you some better boots, and see your mother”.

The next day she arrives at the house and tells Rhoda she thought it was the wrong house, Rhoda asks Gertrude if she is alright and she replies: “…I have one little ailment which puzzles me. It is nothing serious, but I cannot make it out”. She unveils her arm and shows the distinctive mark to Rhoda. It is obvious to Rhoda it is of her dream when she grabbles her arm while her sleep. Gertrude tells of she was asleep and suddenly she felt pain on her arm while asleep, she wakes up and tells how she discovered the distinctive mark on her arm.

A few days pass, Rhoda and Gertrude become better friends and talk to each other more than before. A while later Rhoda suggests that she goes to see a magician who lives a distance away but he may have the answer to your illness. So, Rhoda takes Gertrude to the magician and when the magician called Conjourer Trendle tells her about the person who may have done this to her but she does not know the person who has been described. When the both are walking home they don’t speak to each other. Rhoda says to her self that she thinks she has malignant power over people against my own. Before this we can tell from the story she may have special powers as she was called witch when she was pregnant with the child of Farmer Lodge.

Years pass by and there is no contact between Rhoda and Gertrude, and people find out that Rhoda and her son have left the town moved away to an unknown location.

Gertrude finds illness top be getting worse by the day and Farmer Lodge insists that she goes to see someone. She finds out that if she touches her Arm to the neck of a dead corpse it will cure her, as people have dun it before and it has worked, she finds out some dates of executions and goes to one. When she arrives she has to wake up early the next morning to see the corpse and touch the neck with her arm to get away the illness.

As she goes to touch the corpse she discovers that it is the body of Rhoda’s son, as Rhoda and farmer Lodge walk towards the corpse in the coffin. As she realises the body is of Rhoda’s son her illness makes her very ill and gets she gets really week and soon after she passes away. Gertrude must have been very upset when she finds out that her husband lied to her saying he had to go away from home to do business when he goes to see Rhoda and her son before he is executed.

I think the character of Gertrude lodge has changed dramatically from the beginning to the end of the story as she has discovered the very bad illness. I think she has changed from being a pretty and sweet woman to a sort of lonely and miserable women. The illness has changed the whole character of Gertrude as anyone who is ill would change and wouldn’t be the same as before unless the illness has changed them back to normal. I think that Gertrude must have been very shocked when she finds out that the corpse she is going to touch is then son on Rhoda and that her husband has gone to see Rhoda, lying to her saying he has business to do away from home.

Overall I think the character of Gertrude has changed, but I think she did not deserve the illness she got from the thought of Rhoda grabbling her arm in her dream while she is sitting upon her. Rhoda is very jealous that Farmer Lodge has married a pretty and beautiful girl like Gertrude, and that’s why she has the thought of hurting her. Gertrude really wants the illness to go away really badly as she is very ill and she travels a great distance just to try and cure her illness. She hides a lot from her husband when she is finding out about the executions and she is lucky to go when her husband has gone away from home to see Rhoda but she does know that. I think the character of Gertrude is one of the special characters in the story and that is why I have written about her.

The third person I am going to talk about is a character from the story “A Monkeys Paw”, Sergeant major. He is a man who is described as being tall and burly. We are also told he drinks a lot as in the story it describes “…At the third glass his eye got brighter”. From this we can tell that the Sergeant major likes to drink a lot, maybe socially with family and when he is with family. We also know by his name that he is from the army as his name Sergeant Major is a familiar name with the army. We find out from the story that he likes to talk a lot and blabs on a lot about things trying to make it more interesting for the audience. A quote of him talking quite a lot and him blabbing on is from Mr White who says: “if the tale about the Monkeys Paw is not more truthful than those he has been telling us … We shan’t make much of it”.

The appearance and dressing of sergeant Major is described as being rough looking as him being very tall and bulky. Other characters like the White family do not believe some of the things the Major says but when Mr. White actually tests the paw and when he is making the wish it does something in his hand. They are warned from the Sergeant major that he will not take the blame for any consequences that arise from the wishes or anything to do with the Monkey’s Paw. The white family find out that the Sergeant is not lying and that he was telling the truth all the way.

Mr. White is warned deeply and is told there are consequences and the sergeant is not to blame, White is very terrified from this ordeal and has a really bad day. There are many occasions when the Sergeant Major tries to stop Mr. White, here are a few example,: he grabs his arm from wishing, jumps-up and throws the Monkey’s paw into the fire, Sergeant Major tries his best to get the Paw of Mr. White even by trying to buy it off him. He says: “I warn you of the consequences”.

Later on during the story Mrs. White is at home when a man comes to the house of the White’s and tells Mrs. White that her son Herbert has injured himself seriously but is in no pain at all. “Badly hurt” said the visitor “but he is not in any pain”. There son dies and he is buried soon after. Weeks pass by and one night Mr. White is woken in the night and finds that his wife is not in the bed beside him. The Sergeant finds himself in a bad circumstance when he throws the Monkey’s Paw into the fire; Mr. White in some is crazy about the paw and picks it out of the fire. He tells him of the consequences and that he will not take any blame for any of the outcomes.

I think the character of Sergeant Major because he is only around in the beginning of the story and later on he is not mentioned in the story, the reason may be because he did not want the blame for the consequences of the monkey’s paw. Overall I think the character of Sergeant major is a weird looking and scary character as he is described as being very big and bulky and I can imagine him as being very scary looking when he drinks a lot, his eye brightens up. I think the character of sergeant major is one of the main characters and that’s why I have written about him because if he wasn’t in the story where would the Monkey’s Paw come from. If the Major wasn’t in the story, the plot and scene would be totally different and would be a completely different story.

The last and final character I am going to talk about is Mr. White from the same story “A Monkey’s Paw”. Mr. White is a person who is very kind and a generous man, he is very kind to his wife as he says: “…Come back...” he said tenderly “… You will be cold…”. This figure of speech is when their son has died and she wakes in the night staring out of the window. The man keeps to himself as he says he has everything he needs. Mr. White turns into a sort of greedy person when he hears about the Monkey’s paw and really wants it, from this we can tell he has made many attempts to get the Monkey’s paw and at the end he gets the paw and is all big headed.

The character of Mr. White finds him in a situation where he has made a wish with the Monkey’s Paw and soon after the monkeys paws twists in his hand and suddenly feels some pain and drops to the floor. He tells his wife and is very shocked of the twist and ordeal it has done to him. He was warned by the Sergeant Major several times that it may come out with outcomes and circumstances that are bad and he will not be liable for any happening or consequences: “I warn you of the consequences”.

Later on during the story on that same night he is awake and sitting in front of the fire when he says several faces, one of the faces was so ugly and horrid looking that he actually threw liquid onto the fire to burn it out. The face is described as so horrible an so simian (that he gazed at it in amazement). The next morning Mrs White says: “…The Idea of our listening to such nonsense!!!! How could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you…”. Here she is obviously trying to tell her husband that it is absolutely nonsense and that it can’t come true that quick within a night or so.

The next day Mr. and Mrs. White are sitting in there house when a man comes to there house he tells them that there son has been injured but is in no pain, he also tells them that the company there son was working for will compensate them for two hundred pounds (£200) as Mr. White wished for two hundred pounds his wish was granted by the company of “Maw and Meggins”. From this the father is very happy and says that he is rich but the both are feeling very sad as the have lost there son, the father says: “He was the only one left to us...It is hard”

Mr. White is not at all aware of the warnings he has received from Sergeant Major as he thinks he is probably telling the truth. He is also unaware of the things that Sergeant Major told him and the outcomes it may cause.

The character of Mr. White has changed dramatically from the beginning to the end as he has changed from a generous and kind person to a big headed and jealous person who wants the monkey’s paw and wants all he wants with the paw. The wish he makes for the two hundred pounds comes true in a way because he receives two hundred pounds compensation from the company of where their son used to work. Overall the character is special character in the story and that’s the reason why I have chosen to write about the character of Mr. White.

The writer in the story of “A Monkey’s paw” shows the family as they have devastated from the death of there son. He also shows how Mrs. White has changed from a peaceful wife to a mad and hysterical woman. The writer also uses archaic kind of style to help the theme and let the reader know the story is a horror story.

The writer in both stories has used many similes to describe the appearance and look of their characters. He has used the similes to give more look and more description to the reader about the character.

Overall I think that Rhoda Brooks and Gertrude were the more realistic characters than the characters from ‘A Monkey’s Paw’. The reason I think this is because the story ‘The Withered Arm’ is more realistic to me than the Monkeys paw, this is because I don’t really believe that there could be a Monkeys paw that could make dreams or wishes come true. This made a big difference on the way I enjoyed the story because I really felt as if the story of ‘The Withered Arm’ is very more realistic, as the illness on Gertrude’s arm is getting worse and worse as if she has been cursed. Also the layout of the story is more realistic in a quiet area like a village or small town where Rhoda’s boy is carrying the heavy load back to his home.

Omar Shazad – 62052