The story of the lizard who had the habit of dining on his wives by Eduardo Galeano - Essay Example

The Story of the Lizard who had the habit of dining on his wives by Eduardo Galeano The story of the Lizard who had the habit of dining on his wives written became written by Eduardo Galeano. It remains an excellent story which a lot of the day to day examples could be derived. The main character of the story remains to be Dulcidio. Dulcidio appetite to eat more food became what made him to marry many more wives. The character became more consumed by the idea of eating more when he married more wives. In the story, it reached a point when Dulcidio wanted marry a certain girl, but the girl did not want him. Dulcidio desire to get the girl then consumed him to the extent of him losing his appetite for food that he dearly liked. The essay below will hence give a literary analysis of the given story. In Helix, written by Yashimoto Banana, a writer born in 1964, in Tokyo. The story entails a drunken guy woken up in the morning with hangovers plus loud noise from his neighbors. On waking, the guy starts thinking of his girlfriend and how he knew her. In his mind, he gets flashbacks of the sad moments in their relationship. Her girlfriend then calls him, and they start debating on going to a healing center to have their memories wiped. Eventually, they end up deciding not to go and resent sticking to their old memories whether formal or informal. The story written by Eduardo Galeano remains both an allegory and a fable, one which paints women as preys and men as predators. Dulcidio in the book becomes referred to as the lizard, which often refers to mostly harmless lizards with the exception of the Komodo dragon, which feeds on chunks of meat from its quarry. Hence the word lizard remains used in the story because of its reference to Dulcidio. The main character too becomes depicted as gluttonous as he eats endlessly from his wives. In addition, since Dulcidio came from a powerful family, he used that to lure women with his richness, but failed on the woman wearing glasses. In comparison, the story of Helix written by Banana depicts how a normal relationship looks like. A normal relationship often possess ups and down. The two, boy and girl were discussing on how to go to a healing clinic to have unpleasant memories of their relationships wiped out. First of all, both stories speak of gender relationships. In Helix, the boys often thinks of getting rid of the unpleasant things that had happened in their relationship, but after discussing with his girlfriend, both resolve the issue. The story hence depicts the power of man and woman to solve their problems in a relationship. In as much as a relationship exist, problems will always be there, and escape will not be a solution. The man in the story of helix thinks of going to the clinic where unpleasant memories were removed. When compared to the story by Eduardo Galeano, drifts in relationships become shown. In a relationship, love should be the ensuing component, but for Dulcidio, it was a different thing, food. Dulcidio got consumed by eating a lot of food, and never loved the women he married. In addition, the women also agreed to enter into such a marriage since Dulcidio possessed a lot of family wealth. Eduardo Galeano remains to be a practical individual when it comes to relationships. In his stories, he majorly emphasize on common day issues that people often take for granted. On the other hand, Banana becomes depicted as creative individuals that always try to keep her audience knowledgeable when it came to the new stuff. Banana introduces the concept of memory wiping in the story, a new thing that the young generation often associate. In contrast, Eduardo Galeano speaks for the old generation. In both stories, the issue of multiple partners in a relationship becomes brought up. In Helix for instance, the man seated in the bed remembers about how his past girlfriends knew everything about him. In the story by Eduardo Galeano, Dulcidio marries many wives. Even after having many wives that he consumes, he still intends to get the woman with the glasses. In the society, men often become regarded as the predators, and the controllers of relationships. In both stories, the men become depicted as womanizers. For example, Dulcidio had many wives, but still married others. The society often favors men when it comes to relationships and marriages and allows them to have secret plus open affairs. Feminism remains a crucial topic of discussion among the two stories. In the story, written by Eduardo Galeano, the woman with the glasses expresses features of a feminist. The woman with the glasses got educated and so remains not amazed by the wealth Dulcidio possesses. She seems to be the type that controls men instead of getting controlled. In the society, women often look for powerful men as they follow money, but to the woman with the glass, she acted totally independent. The woman showed the feminist side of women, and encourages those trapped by traditions to wake up. Dulcidio augments himself in the story as a predator by using his wealth as a lure. Therefore, the relationships that Dulcidio formed with his wives symbolized the relationships between wives and husbands, and women and men as a whole. In the story, the man remains as the aggressive, dominating force stationed in marriage. In addition, the story depicts Dulcidio as consuming the women’s identity. Traditionally, most societies accepted women once they entered into marriage, to take the name of the husband. For instance in the story, after the wives got married, they started getting called, “John Smith.” In contrast, the story of Helix talks about teenage relationships. The young man in his hangover contemplates of leaving his girlfriend by having all his memories about her erased. More so, such a relationship can also be seen when Dulcidio marries several women. Marriage is matrimonial, and men and women need to obey the sacredness of it. The woman wearing glasses in the story, in contrast to the rest of Dulcidio wives, represented a woman empowered by feminism, for instance, she acts independently. The woman in glasses became educated long ago and got her own way of handling things in life. She seems uninterested in the Dulcidio’s proclamation of wealth. It then remains that her indifference makes Dulcidio pine for her, therefore, inverting the known predator-prey relationship that became established between Dulcidio and his other wives. The woman in glasses confuses Dulcidio greatly. Dulcidio becomes left by the woman naked and extremely vulnerable, leaving the desire for that girl to consume him. By the girl acting in full control of her situation, she affirms the identity Dulcidio used to have. The act of the girl acting in charge of the relationship tangle consumes Dulcidio immensely to the extent of him losing appetite of food he so loved to eat from his many wives. In contrast, the story of Helix revolves more about break ups and events revolving around it. As the man sits on his bed during hangover, a lot of things scramble through his head. In summary, a lot of comparisons and contrasts could be derived from the two stories discussed above, starting from the differences between the authors. Furthermore, the stories talk about relationships, love and marriage. Finally, the two stories though conflicting, are still the best and funny to read. Works Cited Yoshimoto, Banana. Lizard. New York: Faber, 2000. Print. Read More