Comparison of Soldiers Home and A Sorrowful Woman - Essay Example

English Literature ic and Modern)   Topic:  Comparison of two short stories Instructions: Formal Outline for Two Stories, Comparison of "Soldiers Home" and "A Sorrowful Woman". I Introduction A Introduce the authors and provide some relevant background information on each author that shows a connection with his or her story Earnest Hemingway and Gail Godwin actually have much in common, as both of them were far more successful as writers than in their real lives. They wrote from their own life experience or that of those close to them. As writers they have won many awards and been praised highly for the realism in their stories and the depth of their understanding and depiction of characters. Hemingway concentrated on stories of war and hunting, as these were things he knew from experience, while Godwin wrote about feminist issues and relationships from her own life. In reading these two stories it becomes plainly evident that each of these writers was writing directly from life, painting with words just as surely as any artists brush. B Introduce a summary of each story’s plot and explain briefly how the plots can be compared In these two stories the main character is suffering from clinical depression. The classic symptoms of being uninvolved, simply carrying out the motions of life are what we first see. We watch as the characters withdraw slowly from everything, complying with requirements of society, but never actually living a day. The Soldier withdraws even from the memory of his own experience, retreats from the lies and exaggerations which made his tales interesting and finally isolated himself completely from his former life. The nameless woman in Godwin’s tale retreats into her bedroom and sleeping potions, withdrawing from any involvement with her child and her husband and finally from life as she commits suicide. C The thesis statement: Story 1 and author 1 + Story 2 and author 2 + literary terms/techniques used and/or criticisms that can be applied + authors’ purpose for writing their stories based on the techniques they used In Soldier’s Home Hemingway paints the picture of a soldier suffering from depression, and possibly post traumatic stress disorder, as he simply gives up on readjusting to home life, while Gail Godwin shows us in A Sorrowful Woman a clear picture of a woman suffering from clinical depression and going through the recommended treatment of the day with rest and sleeping potions and these main characters withdraw from life completely as we read. II First major category of support/1st topic sentence = story 1 + story 2 + point of comparison  A Story 1 • 1 Evidence i Krebs showed no interest in life. ii Krebs simply complied with what was expected of him, feeling no interest in life. • 2 Evidence i He did as little as possible, and did not want anything, not work, family or even a girl. ii Krebs slept late, sat all day watching the street from the porch, did some reading, and then went to bed.  B Story 2 • 1 Evidence i Godwin’s main character first stops caring for her child and allows herself to be led to bed, takes a sleeping potion and goes to sleep. ii Each day she does less. • 2 Evidence i She withdraws slowly from her family, her role and the world. ii She stops seeing anyone or doing anything.  C Conclusion Sentence Each of the characters begins to withdraw from life. III Second major category of support/2nd topic sentence = story 1 + story 2 + point of comparison Neither character shows evidence of wanting anything, as the soldier only watches girls and the woman stops doing anything with her family.  A Story 1 • 1 Evidence i Krebs thinks about girls, and compares them, but only wants to see them across the street. ii He feels that they are not worth the work to get them. • 2 Evidence i Krebs is offered the use of the family car to go enjoy himself, but does not care. ii He is asked by his sister to go watch her play baseball, but has no interest.  B Story 2 • 1 Evidence i The woman accepts being cared for and having her family cared for by a replacement helper. ii She simply does what she is told and makes few comments. • 2 Evidence i She stays in her room all day. ii She goes out with her husband to dinner and then takes a sleeping ppotion and goes to bed.  C Conclusion Sentence We see that neither character really wants anything, except sleep. IV Third major category of support/3rd topic sentence = story 1 + story 2 + point of comparison The final withdrawel in Hemingway’s story is the total compliance with expectations, because the soldier simply does not want to fight about it, while the woman stops talking to or seeing anyone.  A Story 1 • 1 Evidence i Krebs finally simply complies with what is expected of him, being too depressed to even fight this. ii He decides to get a job, but out of town. • 2 Evidence i He tells his mother he does not love her. ii He relents and assures her of his love when she cries.  B Story 2 • 1 Evidence i The woman isolates both herself and her family ii She insists on firing the girl who cares for them and her. • 2 Evidence i She withdraws further, moving into the girl’s room. ii She still does nothing, as her husband takes on all the responsibilities himself.  C Conclusion Sentence Both of these characters passively move into isolation. V Third major category of support/3rd topic sentence = story 1 + story 2 + point of comparison The soldier’s final withdrawal is to stop making decisions, while the woman moves toward suicide.  A Story 1 • 1 Evidence i Finally, the soldier gives up and simply complies. ii He gets on his knees with his mother.to pray, but will not say the words himself • 2 Evidence i He decides to go watch his sister play baseball ii This action is his final passive compliance with the expectations of the world.  B Story 2 • 1 Evidence i The woman insists that she does not want to talk. ii Everything is left at her door and she only comes out when she is alone. • 2 Evidence i She finally does all the expected chores of a wife and mother, but only7 when she is home alone. ii She stores up enough domestic “work” to leave her family for a while, and commits suicide, her final withdrawel.  C Conclusion Sentence Both of these characters simply withdraw from living: the soldier by just doing what he is told and the woman by killing herself. VIII Conclusion • Review of the major categories of support Each of these characters carries us through the progressive withdrawal of clinical depression. The do not fight or even care what they are losing. • Take a new direction Nobody around them really understands, or the treatment would be different. Nobody really understood what was going on within these characters. They simply let them go. Connect with the reader One very interesting note is that neither writer ever really did anything their characters sis not do, and both stayed isolated in many ways, with Hemingway committing suicide and Godwin going through two marriages of short duration and finally settling for a totally academic life. We feel a sense of loss, because nobody understood these two characters, though they loved them. Love simply was not enough.. "Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 203. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2008. 52-217. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Broward College. 12 September 2011 "Ernest Miller Hemingway" Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998 Biography in Context. Web 11 Sep. 2011.Gail Godwin." Contemporary Southern Writers. Gale, 1999. Gale Biography in Context. Web. 21 Sep. 2011. Meyer, Michael. The Completed Bedford Introduction to Literature 9th ed. New York:Bedford/ St. Martins, 2011. Print. Wimsatt, Mary Ann. "Gail Godwin, the South, and the Canons." Southern Literary Journal 27.2 (Spring 1995): 86-95. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Sep. 2011. Read More