Textual Analysis - Essay Example

In this essay, there is a detailed textual analysis of the themes of two fictional writings, which are “The Ingrate” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Albert and Esene” by Frances Khirallah Noble. The analysis is taken through four major steps, all of which tries to throw more light on the themes of the two stories in a comparative and contrasting manner. In the first step, there is focus on the main themes displayed in the two texts, whiles the second step looks at how the element of fiction was used to display the themes conveyed in the texts.

There is then a discussion on why and how the elements of fiction were used to illustrate the themes, before delving into the effectiveness of the themes and elements of fiction as they reflect the meaning of the texts. Reading through both texts, one gets the understanding that both works focus on the theme of human reception of love. This comparative similarity notwithstanding, there were different approaches by which the theme of human reception of love was presented in each work. The differences in approach of presentation are what formed the major contrasting point in the two texts.

As far as “The Ingrate” is concerned, the writer uses the story of Mr. Lecker who was a master and his slave, Josh to depict that humans can receive love in an ungrateful and deceptive manner. This is because having tried his best to live his slave well and even considered educating the slave in how to read and write, Mr. Lecker was repaid with and escape by the slave after the slave became empowered (Dunbar, 145). On the other hand, human reception of love was treated as one that be rewarding and accommodating as the wife of Albert, Esene shows maximum appreciation for the efforts her husband took to empowering her by teaching her to read and write.

At least this was done to surprise all those who did not believe Esene could do this (Noble, p. 164). To exemplify how contrasting the theme of human reception of