Literature Comparative Analysis

writings Comparative AnalysisAn Encounter by James Joyce deals with the theme of a individuals course of studyn for escapism from the mo nononous routine of daylight-to-day biography through with(predicate) the tale of a day in which two teen sons argon miching from school a feeling which most, if non all, stack will roll in the hay at some point in their sees. In this myth, Joyce suggests to the commentator that although plurality yearn for escape and adventure, routine is inevitable, and sensitive experiences, when they do come, can be profoundly disturbing. The author achieves this through his incorporation of ambiguity, epiphany and writing through head start person narrative, with inner monologue to extravagantlylight the consciousness of the patron and likewise to subtly divulge the feelings of early(a)s.The theme of paralysis is key to Joyces work the ensnare is inherent throughout Dubliners as a whole. With this idea comes its antithesis escape or, in the case of An Encounter, thwarted escape. It is because of the characters desire to achieve this freedom, that when the day fails to reach its high expectations, the stagnation and restrictiveness of the skirts are powerfully rein squeeze. From the outset of the tale, Joyce ponders the whimsy of escape. Characters searching for such an escape over untold describe how they would wish to go forth afar to achieve it. This feeling is openly exhibited in An Encounter, as Joyces low gear person narrator submitsReal adventures, I reflected, do not hap to people who remain at home they must be want abroad.In the apologue, Joyce develops the theme in the form of an inner monologue the thoughts of the admirer dictating how his Wild West adventures opened doors of escape. The thought processes of the boy (relating to escape) are ultimately what ask the tale, quietly conveyed by Joyce through subtle details.An Encounter deals with methods of escape other than exotic foreign adventure found elsewhere in Dubliners, counsel on the attempt of two boys to break out of the weariness of their effort little environment. At first the prospect of adventure excites the girlish boys, although there is a constant undert ane of anti-climax carefully intertwined into the story. Joyce writes from the first person point view, often through the use of analepses, leading to a frequent air of limit and frustration surrounding the boys. Quite often, Joyce does not commit any warm emotion to regular(a)ts, preferring to use lacklustre qualifying adverbs or procedurals We were all mistily excited it was a mild sunny morning. Joyce chooses to focus in on the most insipid details such as the docile horsesthe groaning carts which whole kit and caboodle to suppress the carefree, exciting experience which the boys see as an escapism from their pall routine. The negativity which is now apparent in almost everything encountered appears to be an entrapping factor over the bo ys, who sulk into a resigned and somewhat resentful state, a state which is further much reiterated by the repetition of the adverb besidesIt was too late and we were too tired to carry out our project of visiting the Pigeon House.Joyce presents Dublin as a city of incapacitation to the iodine-year-old characters. He begins to erase the paladins claim I was very happy, from the readers memory, introducing words such as solemn, sedulous and steadytually pull down denotes the characters thoughts as jaded. There is constant repetition of the adjective tired the day has become tedious, adventure and escape have proved elusive, and the encounter of a sinister octogenarian man has confirmed that the maven will not set out merriment in Dublin, but is sort of doomed to live in the fantasies of comic book and literature.However, despite its lack of event, the day does outcome the boys with one notable incident through the scene encapsulating the encounter with the old man. Aspi rations of escape having been superseded, Joyce begins a new paragraph steering primarily on the silence and stillness of the situation There was nobody but ourselves in the fieldwe had lain on the bank for some time without speaking.Through creating such an sinister atmosphere sentences slowly become shorter and more concise with a less picturesque use of vocabulary, signalling new themes to be introduced through the introduction of the queer antagonist.The old man introduces the possibility of in-depth monologue and direct vocabulary. In the communion with the boys, he obviously manages to entrap the young protagonist with his reference to literature a topic of kn declare interest to the boy. The monotonous voice of the antagonist and the way his voice slowly circles round and round in the equivalent orbit help to achieve the spellbinding quality of the man. This technique paralyses the narrator, who frontingly allows the man to give a discourse in the form of a monolog ue mainly due to his apparent inability to interrupt. The politeness clear in the boys character is in hindsight, far from being useful, instead placing the boy in a situation of danger.The worrying feature of the mans discourse is the implicitly perverse way in which he speaks. He frequently refers to the whippingof young boys with an over-excitable zeal. Joyces primary use of such adjectives as magnetised and circle in reference to his thought process establishes the mans odd approach. This creates the impression that he is feel on the melodic theme. Secondly, a section of reported speech is introducedWhen a boy was rough and unruly there was nothing would do him any near but a good sound whipping what he valued was to get a nice warm whipping.Joyce emphasises the mans positive outlook on the playing field through the use of positive repetition of the word good, firstly as a noun, secondly as an adjective, and also use of the adjective nice, which appears somewhat misplac ed when used in conjunction with the concept of whipping.The protagonists isolation from intellectuals due to young age and low social class sum he is quick to warm to the old man when he dialog of literature. In the epiphany, he even appears isolated from his closest fri remove, Mahoney, and it appears to that the epiphany of the piece (from the young boys perspective) confirms that the older man has had a profound influence on his views. It appears that the isolation of the nave child has unexpendedfield him susceptible to corruption and the encounter has left the boy and the reader with the realisation that the valet de chambre is not an impoverished place.The grade and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe, like The Encounter, is concerned with entrapment, but unlike Joyces tale, is centred on one individual and the terror he experiences when in isolation. The protagonist, a prisoner subject to the tortures of the Spanish inquisition, is often left thinking of what may be t he surrounding atmosphere offering no apparent subjects for the character to focus on. Poe incorporates a feeling of perpetual unease and hero-worship into the thought processes of his first person narrator, leaving the reader in a parallel state of caput as they experience the horror of the protagonists situation. The perspective that the reader is allowed on Poe choosing a first person narrator gives the reader a stronger feeling of isolation due to our constant awareness of the innermost feelings of the protagonist. The narrative does not, unlike a third person perspective, allow the audience to transcend the situation, providing direct ingress to the horror which is occurring on the page. There is also no direct speech in the story. This fact reinforces the idea of isolation in the way that the protagonist has no need to speak due to absolute solitude. Poes use of highly descriptive language, incorporating frequent use of alliteration and anaphora, escalates the terror and en trapment suffered by the protagonist, focusing heavily on the senses even before the ghastly prospects of the character are realised, resulting in a heightened state of suspense.The odour of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils. I prayed I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more prompt descent. I grew frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward against the sweep of the fearful scimitar. And consequently I swing suddenly calm, and lay smiling at the shine deathTo accomplish the desired atmosphere for such the tortured destiny of the narrator, Poe describes the physical surroundings of the protagonist in some detail. The subterranean world of darkness becomes a perfect agent to carry an unnerving, mystifying atmosphere. tho concern for the protagonist is drawn from the constant reference to his fatigued state and also the dangerously moist and slippery characteristics of the chamber his elusive surroundings becoming the antagonist of the story in the abs ence of any other companion. The tenseness generated relies heavily on Poes use of a sequence of brief sentences as the protagonist encounters The Pit, representing his calm and clear thought even in the throes of fearI proceeded for many paces but still all was blackness and vacancy. I breathed more freely.However, as the narrator becomes evermore aware of the extortionate situation, Poe mirrors his mounting terror through increasingly complex syntax, resulting in a faster movement of thought and a growing sensation of murkinessThe difficulty, nevertheless, was but trivial although, in the disorder of my fancy, it seemed at first insuperable.Eventually, as the narrator gradually uncovers the secrets of his confinement, a greater sense of danger privileged him is realised. Poe displays this through an ever quickening pace and complex sentences. giving the effect of total bemusement and terror. Quite suddenly, with a simple sentence, out of tincture with the ever-increasing comp lexity of the syntax the climax of the characters investigation is revealed I stepped on it, and fell violently on my face. With this inclusion, Poe signals to the reader that the tension has peaked.The fact that the piece is pen in the form of a first person narrative suggests that the protagonist is reminiscing about his ordeal, and that ultimately the piece will not end in his death. The narrators salvation is assured when General Lasalle of the French army comes to the rescue. Poe chooses at the end of his tale, unlike the other events of the story, to dramatically reduce proceedings deciding to summarize the rescue in a short paragraph, in an anti-climatic fashionThe perfervid walls rushed back.. The French army had entered Toledo.Throughout the tale, the narrator maintains the efficacy to recount faithfully and rationally his surroundings while also describing his own emotional exhilaration. Terrified and alone as the narrator may be, with the pendulum symbolise deaths l iteral unstoppable sway, he does not lose hope of salvation, instead recruiting his rational senses and using the starved rats for his own benefit. Along with being a tale of horror, it also shows the nature of military man resolve in a seemingly impossible situation faced with horrific trials and the realisation of deaths inevitability, the human beings instinct for self-preservation remains, in itself, an unstoppable force.Alice Munros short story Floating straddle is a story of domestic realism about learning to stimulate the provisionary nature of human lifespan and an exploration of the many challenges pose by cancer and its arduous, disfiguring treatments. Like Joyces The Encounter, the protagonist has a chance face-off with a stranger with leads them to re-evaluate their outlook on life. Also, like Poes The Pit and the Pendulum, the protagonist is, too, faced with the prospects of both death and salvation.Floating Bridge is written in the first person narrative, the pr otagonist is a cancer sufferer named Jinny, whose life is divided into the time before the diagnosis and the time later. The understated and hold back language and rhythm of the prose, suggesting Jinnys resigned acceptance of her illness and her impending death, is sustained throughout, even though at the very beginning of the story, Jinny has learned that her cancer has entered a stage of remission. Because she has already accepted the relative freedom from indebtedness that experience of her incurable disease gave her, she shows no exuberance at this new intimacy that she has more time than she thought she did.On the day in which the story is set, the doctor has told her that there is reason for cautious optimism, but this does not obtain Jinny feel better. Before, she was relatively sure of her future, knowing that she had little time left in her life. This new information forces her to go back and start the year all over again, removing a certain low-grade freedom from her life. The new knowledge has removed a dull, protecting membrane she did not even know was there and leaves her feeling raw and vulnerable. Since learning of her illness, she has felt a kind of unspeakable excitement that results when a disaster releases one from responsibility for her life. Now that is gone and a feeling of apathy remains. She reflects on a time she left her husband, Neal, briefly to sit in a passel shelter near her home, reading graffiti on the wall and identifying with people who have left messages there. When she returns home, she asks Neal if he would ever have come after her, and he says Of course. Given time. Neals detached attitude toward Jinny and his cavalier treatment of her despite her life-threatening illness is an undercurrent that runs throughout the story.Part of Jinnys emotional turmoil at the time of the story stems from Neals excited reaction to Helen. He becomes more animated, enthusiastic, and ingratiating around her, as he often does around ot her people. Helen has a fresh out-of-the-egg look, and Jinny thinks that everything about her is right on the surface, which gives her an innocent and vexatious power. Neal teases Helen, his whole being invaded with silly bliss. It is not that Neal desires Helen rather, it is that her innocence and simplicity seem a welcome relief from the complexity of Jinnys situation.When they arrive at the lagger park where Helens foster parents live, they are invited in, but Jinny wants to stay outside. There is a strong feeling of isolation or the time that Jinny is waiting for Neal to return he has accepted the invitation while Jinny, his sick wife, is left alone, tired and overly hot from the daytime temperature.The meeting of seventeen-year-old Ricky creates a kindred reaction in Jinny as to her husbands feelings towards Helen. There appears to be an instant chemistry between the pair. A sense of connection is established when they discover that they both choose not to wear a watch. It s eems in Jinnys sense of isolation, something as mundane as this is enough to cling to. In bank line to her husband, Ricky shows simple consideration to her by offering her a ride home. It is then that Munro takes the reader away from realism and introduces an almost magical element with Rickys innocent simplicity in his desire to show her the floating bridge where he takes his girlfriends, allowing the reader and Jinny herself to will momentarily about her illness and the self-consciousness she feels over her baldness his fondle providing an innocent acceptance of her, regardless of these things. When Jinny is on the floating bridge, she imagines that the road is a floating ribbon of earth, underneath which is all water. After the kiss, Jinny thinks of Neal getting his end told, rocking on the edge of his future, and accepts the tentative nature of her own future, feeling a lighthearted compassion for Neal. Rickys interest serves to remind her that she is still alive and undefe ndable of adventure and secrets.The most problematic subject of the story is Neals treatment of Jinny, which seems, if not cruel, at least unfeeling. The reader may feel he is much too excited by the presence of the young girl Helen and much too indifferent to Jinnys plight. However, there is nothing to suggest that he does not love Jinny. . He, too, is on a shifting floating bridge, trying to find something to cling to, even if it is of such little substance as an innocent young girl who is healthy and sound. Similarly, there is nothing to suggest that the young man, Ricky, at the end of the story has any desire for Jinny. In contrast to the messy complexity of her life, his kiss is the epitome of innocent acceptance, instilling in her a tender-hearted sort of compassion. The storys structure plays a balancing act similar to that required of walking on a floating bridge. The firmness of solidness ground is only an illusion all around lies the danger of injustice of self. However, even though the bridge seems to be shifting and tentative, it is sufficient if one is content to live in the realm of the unsure. Munros story effectively reflects this tentative and delicate balancing.In all three stories which I have detailed, it is the writers subject matter and careful narrative technique which enrich our reading of them, allowing the reader not only pleasure and entertainment, but to view their lives more clearly. To change the reader to truly engross themselves in a work of fiction, the story must be intellectually challenging and appeal to our senses and our own life experience. Joyce, Poe and Munro propitiously accomplish this, proving themselves as true masters of their art.