To compare and contrast three short stories from the anthology

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To compare and contrast three short stories from the anthology

I am going to write about three short stories from the anthology which deals with the theme of relationship and loss; I will compare and contrast these three stories showing how the writer uses language and structure to convey these ideas.

Firstly, out of the first three stories I chose, ‘Flight’ by Doris Lessing, it is about a grandfather who is reluctant to let go of his granddaughter. Secondly I chose ‘Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snow’ Suit by Sylvia Plath, this story is an autobiographical account of Plath’s childhood and how she is blamed for something she did not do. Lastly I chose ‘Your Shoes’ by Michèle Roberts; this story is about a mother who is upset because her daughter has run away

All three stories have the theme of relationship and loss. In ‘Flight’ there is a relationship between the grandfather and his granddaughter and the loss of his granddaughter as she is getting married. In ‘Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit’, Plath talks about her relationship with her uncle and mother and the loss of her child hood because of what happens with Paula Brown and what is happening around the world during the time of her childhood. In ‘Your Shoes’ the relationship is between the mother and her daughter, husband and her mother. The theme of loss in the story come from the daughter running away and the mother feeling she has lost her.

There is symbolism used in ‘Flight’ and ‘Your Shoes’ but not in ‘Superman’ to show relationship. In Flight the grandfather’s favourite pigeon was a representation of his granddaughter, what he does to his pigeon is what he wants to do to his granddaughter for example the grandfather wants to keep Alice and doesn’t want to let her go, this shown when he ‘shuts the bird into a small box and fastened the bolt’ (Line 20-21). Also near the end of the story when the grandfather releases his favourite pigeon he releases his granddaughter as accepts that it is her life. I think Lessing used the grandfather’s favourite pigeon as a symbol for his granddaughter because they are both liked very much by the grandfather and both the pigeon and Alice are in similar situations, Alice wants to go with Steven and the pigeon wants to fly away, however they are both stopped by the Grandfather, furthermore this is showing the Grandfather’s relationship with Alice in a hidden way to make the story more interesting..

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 This symbolism is similar to the symbolism used in Your Shoes. In Your Shoes a pair of shoes symbolises the mother’s daughter and the relationship. This can be seen on line eleven where the mother says, ‘I locked the wardrobe door on those rebellious shoes’, from this it can be said the mother is talking about her daughter because the shoes are personified as they are said to be ‘rebellious’ which could be a way to describe her daughter. This also shows that the mother and the daughter don’t have a very good relationship as the shoes are ‘locked’ ...

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