Trust is also another issue in ‘Your Shoes’ between the mother and her daughter, as there is no trust between her daughter really, as the mother tends to spy on her daughter and goes her daughter’s bag finding cigarettes. “I’d catch you raiding the kitchen cupboards” – Line 44.
“Then I found out that you drink alcohol at parties and smoke.” – Line 100. This has an effect on the reader as it makes the reader think about every day family life that the mother and daughter go through, which is filled with dishonesty and untrust.
In ‘Pride and Prejudice’ trust is seen differently and is a much more serious issue, as women were not trusted in those days to be left alone with a man, and always had to be escorted everywhere, even when older they had to live with an respectable older lady. If not with that person then with their parents for the rest of their lives. This shows the reader what it was like in the 19th Century and how there were certain social rules that had to be abided.
In ‘Your Shoes’ there seems to be more rights because women in today’s society have taken on more equal responsibilities, but this may lead to a number of problems, this may lead to all sorts of things in society like drugs which if abused can link/ end up in death. Women are allowed to choose who they marry which is linked into the wearing of a white wedding dress, but white symbolises purity and is also a tradition which has become flawed as that person wearing a white dress does not always mean that the person is a virgin. And so at the end of the day the whole image of a white wedding is a sharad. This whole idea of more rights is linked to freedom. In ‘Your Shoes’ the daughter has taken freedom into her own hands as she has run away from home. In the text the mother uses informal speech in line 15 “I can’t send you a letter, either, because I don’t know your address.” This has an effect on the reader as a negative tone and puts across the mother’s characteristics to the reader, as she is unsure of where about her daughter is at that present time.
In ‘Pride and Prejudice’ women do not have any rights and there is lack of money for women as they are dependent on other people. They cannot choose who they want to marry and in the outcome because of an arranged marriage, it may be negative or positive. This is addressed to a contemporary audience with a modern audience/ reader. Rights were given to men as they were considered head of the household. In ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Mr. Collins has the right to ask Lizzie to marry him, and Mr. Collins comes across to the reader as being very self-confident, “and having no feelings of diffidence to make it distressing to himself even at the moment.” To a modern day reader it would be very off-putting to someone to be so over-confident but in his or her society one had to be confident.
In ‘Your Shoes’ appearance is not considered a ‘must’, as people are free to dress how they want and when they want. If you do not know that person you are not automatically considered being lower class. Everybody still has there own opinion of that person, but people still have more free will. There is a better understanding between people today, as they are not as prejudice. In ‘Your Shoes’ the fathers opinion of the daughter is that she is a dirty slut, “When your father called you a dirty slut he didn’t, mean you to take it personally.”- Line 94 This comes across to the reader as irony but the appearance of the daughter to the father might have been one of a slut in his eyes, i.e. her dress sense.
The daughter in ‘‘Your Shoes’’ has freedom to whatever she wants “ It was that mob you got in with at school. That Vanessa for instance.” – line 74-5, and so the daughters freedom makes the mother believe it is her daughters friends that have caused her to run away. This freedom for the daughter has turned into a rather negative journey because as a result to the daughter’s freedom, the daughter could be “sleeping rough God knows where.” - line 156 or “could be begging for money to buy a burger or a sandwich.” - line 58. This would lead the reader into the question ‘Why did she run away from home?’ – maybe there were some issues from home that she wanted to be rid of, or maybe the relationship between her parents was just that bad. This links on to the mother blaming herself, causing the mother to compare herself to when she was a little girl “I’d have been hit if I used such language.”- line 62. The key word in this quote is I’d and I, and this makes the reader think more, instead of it just being I remember… or when I was little….
And so this suggests that the mother is still living in the past and hasn’t let go of things that have happened to her.
And so the mother portrays her daughter to the readers as innocent, when we really know that the daughter is not innocent, as she smokes and drinks, and so the mother is only contradicting herself because she is trying to hide her inner feelings and make excuses for herself.
In ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Lizzie has no freedom because her parents make most of her decisions in life for her. To a modern day society this can be un-nerving as when you have no possessions in the world, freedom is what keeps people alive.
Mrs. Bennett is constantly answering for her daughters and does not take her own daughters opinion to heart. Jane Austen presents Mrs. Bennet’s character as very forward, and one who suffers from nerves. This can be presented to the reader as a character that may at times be selfish only looking out for her own interests. But in the 19th Century most mothers were like this as they answered for their children in almost every circumstance.
In ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Austen displays the themes of appearance versus reality, and impulse verses deliberation. Elizabeth trusting her own impulses, makes a mistake about Darcy and his apparent arrogance that deliberation and further experience eventually causes her to correct. This shows the reader Elizabeth’s character, showing that she is very headstrong and so we can then begin to understand, the tone of her voice and her actions, that she takes into her own hands.
The irony and satire that is used in Austen’s novel was used to make a serious point because in the 19th Century the audience understood the point better when it was put across this way “From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins and I will never see you again if you do.”
Irony is also shown in ‘Your Shoes’ “Its not very nice having to imagine you mixing with people like that. Drug addicts and so on.”-line 56-7, as here there is irony shown as the daughter does take drugs. This makes the reader think about the daughters behavioral problems.
There are may other uses of language, imagery, structure and tone throughout ‘Your Shoes’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’. In ‘Your Shoes’ everything in the story basically links backs to memories, she uses personification to personify the shoes, and excuses are made for the girls father, which relieves some of the guilt that’s on her behalf. She feels as though she has to be a better mum to her daughter, than what her mum was to her. The laces “like strings of white liquorice.” Is her security blanket as it makes her feel close to her daughter, knowing that she may never be close to her daughter again. The structure at the end is a short sentence as it makes the reader think about what has just been written. She does not know how to act, as there is a lot of jealousy, resentment and love, and her emotions confuse her. She sees the shoes as rebellious and so this is personification where she is expressing her feelings for her daughter. There are many rhetorical questions, which make the reader emphasise the point. She uses repetition on the last line “I love you I love you so much oh yes oh yes.”-line 200 and so this shows aspiration and leaves the reader thinking.
The main both texts are that they both seem to draw the reader in. They both use alliteration, they both seem to deal with the same issues like, trust, freedom, appearance, bond and rights of women.
The difference is that ‘Your Shoes’ is a short story whereas ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a novel. ‘Your Shoes’ has shorter sentences than ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and the time periods when they were written are very different as well, because ‘Your Shoes’ is modern day story which is written in the 21st Century and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was written in the 19th Century. They both tell two totally different stories.
‘Pride and Prejudice’ affected me in a way that made me realise what it was like to live in society in the 19th Century. Women were never respected as much as men and were always told to do. They did not have rights and had no freedom of speech which I find quite unnerving as I believe that everyone should be treated equally, no matter what, race or gender. The social class then was a huge issue indeed and it made me seem to think how difficult it would have been for me if living in the 19th Century, and what social class I would fit into compared with how I live today. It taught me about the manner in which they acted and also shown me how pride and being prejudiced can affect ones judgement in life whether it be good or bad. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and also enjoyed the twists of how hate turned into love. The characters are portrayed in such a sense that you actually feel as if you are in the novel which makes you think what decisions you would of made. There was not a great deal of comedy in ‘‘Pride and Prejudice’’ but if a point was meant to be put across it was done in irony or satire.
In ‘Your Shoes’ I have learnt that freedom can be a positive or a negative journey. I felt as though I sympathised with the mother but also felt that she was also confused as she contradicted herself a lot. This has shown me that insecurity is really needed in life for a person to feel safe and secure, and in ‘Your Shoes’ the mother feels as if she has no security at all.
It addresses the matter of running away, and in away is like a ‘think before you act’ advertisement/campaign as it clearly shows how the people you leave behind suffer and how their lives are affected due to the fact of your departure. ‘Your Shoes’ is a story that makes people realise how precious families are. There is no comedy in this story as it is based on a very serious note. I have enjoyed reading this story as it made me think about situations in life.
I really enjoyed comparing ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Your Shoes’ and looking at them in a different context.
