Compare and contrast the female characters Veronica in Veronica and Guleri in A Stench of Kerosene.

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Marzia Begum 10A

Diverse Culture

Compare and contrast the female characters Veronica in 'Veronica' and Guleri in 'A Stench of Kerosene'.

In this essay both female characters in 'Veronica' and 'A Stench of Kerosene' will be examined for similarities and differences.

When you read these two stories the three things that stand out is their culture, tradition and the theme of love. The story teaches us that sometimes tradition gets in the way of life. It can sometimes control your life or sometimes not. In both the stories, the women hold on tightly to their traditions. The author is not just talking about their family traditions but the global tradition of fertility and obedience. The major characters in these stories are Veronica and Guleri. They are both women and this essay portrays about the roles of women around the world. Although there are a lot of similarities between them on the surface there are even more underneath. In both the stories, the main belief in the female characters is their cultures. Throughout the stories it shows us how important their culture is to them and how their society forces them to do certain actions that occasionally leads to a person's death as seen in 'A Stench of Kerosene'.

Veronica and Guleri both live in male dominated countries, which makes female seen by everyone as inferior.

The story of 'Veronica' is told in first person by Okeke who's is Veronica's childhood friend and the 'I' in then story.

The story of 'A Stench of Kerosene' is told in third person by an omniscient narrator.

The author of 'Veronica' is Adewale Maja-Pearce and he was brought up in Nigeria the place Veronica was.

Maja-Pearce later returned to London, as this was his place of birth so that he could supplement his education. In Veronica, the person narrating the story, Okeke can be compared to Adewale Maja-Pearce as they lead similar lives.

The author of 'A Stench of Kerosene' is Amrita Pritam and she was brought up in India, which later became Pakistan, then she moved to New Delhi so that she could begin writing in Hindi.

She had very unhappy experiences of marriage and divorce, This links with Guleri in 'A Stench of Kerosene' as Guleri can not have children and her husband marries again agreeing to his mother so that he can have children and this makes Guleri depressed and broken hearted which then leads to her gruesome death as her mother-in-law controls everything that goes on with Manak and Guleri. Manak's mother is an important force, though scarcely comes in as character.
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Veronica and Guleri both grew up in villages in third world countries that must have meant that they were both poor people.

But the only difference in their surroundings is that Veronica is in the country with troubled political history. The country has been torn apart by divisions between tribes and political groups, suffering massacres and civil war.

As a result, financial development within the country has been limited and rural areas have been badly affected by poverty.

The characters in these stories have many similarities in their personalities and the way they live their ...

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