There are a lot of differences between the two stories, even though they have the same genre as each other. One of the differences is that of the way that they are written. Dickens has written his story in the style of the time, which is formal writing, with structured sentences. The style of the other story, by Bennett, is a story written in monologue. This means that to get the tone and message of the story across it is best to read it out loud. Both of these styles of writing are correct for each story, and just because one is more formal than the other it does not make one that one a better story than the other. For example in Dickens’s story;
“I took him in my arms and laid him – very gently now he was dead – in a thicket. My wife was from home that day and would not return until the next.”
This shows how formally he writes his stories, compared to that of Bennett’s.
This shows how informally Bennett writes, and it does not really make sense unless you read it out loud, and then it sounds as good as, if not better, than the way that Dickens writes.
The second difference between the two stories that I am going to look at is the question of gender. In Dickens’s story the only woman involved in the whole story is his wife, who is only referred to as the wife. This is because in the time that the story was written the woman was only referred to as a wife; they did not have the right to vote. Women had absolutely no rights what so ever. This is explained in the story by the way that the whole story is told by a woman, who has a name in this story, she is called Margory. This is one of the main differences between the two stories.
Another difference between the two stories is that of the role of the narrator, which happens to be the murderer in Dickens’s story and the murderer’s wife in Bennett’s story. In the story by Dickens, it is told by the person who committed the crimes in hindsight. The story by Bennett is written in monologue, and they are written as the story is happening.
The last difference that I am going to study between the two stories is that of the difference of class between the two stories. Dickens wrote his story in a time when all prose was written about the middle and upper class. This is because in the time that this was written all working class did the same thing, which was just working the land. The story by Bennett is written solely about the working class, and it typicalises what we see as the working class.
To conclude I could say that there are many more difference between the two stories than the title suggests. There are still many similarities between the two, for example the way that murder is used in both of them. Also another large similarity is the way that the two stories are both influenced heavily by minor characters. The presentation of the characters does still have a role in the way that the stories are portrayed. It is still a difference between the stories, but not the main one. If I was to choose the main difference between the two stories, I would say that it was the way that they are written.
