The Misfits by Arthur Miller and The Lovers of Horses by Tess Gallagher - Essay Example

Compare and Contrast “The Lover of Horses” by Tess Gallagher and “The Misfits” by Arthur Miller Table of Contents Introduction 3 Genre 4 Plot 4 Characterization 6 Dramatic Element: Initiation, Denouement, Falling Action and Resolution 7 Style of Writing: Use of Literary Devices, Symbolism and Irony 8 Point of View 9 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Timeless creations are always beyond comparisons. Yet sometimes literary productions are compared based on myriad parameters abased on the aesthetic presentation and technical use of those pieces. Tess Gallagher is a renowned poet and “The Lover of Horses” is the first collection of short stories from the poet. This collection of the stories is the platform for Gallagher to prove that she well adept for fiction and poetry as well. A large number of stories in this collection appear with an autobiographical intonation and speak about the concern associated with the coming of age in the Northwest American background. The remaining stories without any autobiographical intonation are widely realistic and describe largely contemporary life of the middle-class society. “The Misfits” is a drama written by Arthur Miller and happens at the backdrop of Reno. The plot of the drama revolves round the co-incidental meeting and friendship of a divorcee who is utterly depressed from her life and an aging ex-cowboy addicted to gambling and sustains by getting hold of mustangs. Bookslut commented it to be “An interesting account of a pivotal moment in American history” (University of Illinois Press, 2009). From the basic plot introspection of both the creations, it seem that the literary pieces are quite different from one another and can be compared on the parameters pertaining to their plot, genre, characterization, climax, historical context, symbolism, falling action, ending, style and the use of irony. Genre The literary pieces, “The Misfits” and “The Lover of Horses” are from different genre. “The Misfits” is an American drama. On the contrary, “The Lover of Horses” is a collection of short stories. This is also worth mentioning that most of the stories captivated within the collection named “The lover off Horses’ is autobiographical in nature. “The Misfits”, on the other hand, is a complete power-packed drama and contains all the essential dramatic qualities within it. Plot The plot of the stories in the collection, “The Lover of Horses” revolves round autobiographical element and some timeless successful stories that appear at the first segment of the collection like “Desperate Measure” and “A Pair of Glasses” have extreme strong plot and dramatic qualities incorporated within the plot. These stories that occur at the first segment of the collection deals essentially with the paradox of adult world pitted against the world of youth and revolve around maturation and ever-changing world. The other worth-mentioning stories are those that fall outside the regime of the stories dealing with maturation and coming up of age in “The Lovers of Horses”. The stories in the second segment that attracts the attention of any reader include “The Wimp” and the “Turpentine”. These stories deal with the flux that occurs in the conjugal lives of the married couples. In the story “The Wimp”, the plot deals about the crisis that takes place between the couples and the way the family crisis leads to a novel appreciation by women for her pacifist husband. In the story “Turpentine”, Gallagher presents a volley of imagination imbibed brilliantly within the limited scope of the tiny plot of the story. The journey presented in this story is a creative psychic experience of a woman whose hysteric actions compel her to raise question about the worthiness of her marriage. Another brilliant story that appears on the second segment of the collection is “King Death” which centres round an eerie encounter between an alcoholic who has denounced his home and a married couple. The best pick from the collection is indeed the story bearing the name “Girls” which is an excellent depiction of an aged woman’s encounter and visit to one of her girlhood friend. The collection of short stories captivated within the pages of “The Lover of Horses” by Gallagher presents a diversified plot pertaining to myriad colours of life encapsulating stories of human mind from different walks of life, age and sex. Catherine Cucinella right observed the collection as “Many of the stories in “The Lover of The Horses” are tales of flawed or failed marriages”. The collection presents a true journey through life and flux of life (Cucinella, 2002, Pg - 135). On the contrary, “The Misfits” is an integrated plot and through a single story line presents the diversified essence of life. The passionate love story between the aging ex-cowboy, Gay Langland and the depressed divorcee, Roslyn Tabor builds a passionate saga of love, emotion and crisis in life and presents the true essence of life of a Northwest American cowboy. Characterization The collection by Gallagher presents a huge band of characters ranging from young teen-age girl desperate in the love of an aged man to Ada in the “Girls” who meet her stroke-stricken friend Esther after forty years to eerie homeless alcoholic and psychologically misbalanced woman who questions her marriage. The short story in “The Lovers of Horses” in the truest essence of the term, presents a huge range of character portrayal captivating characters and human minds from various strata of society with different age, occupation and background whereas the focus in “The Misfits” is around two central characters only. The meeting and falling in love of an ex-cowboy, Gay Langland and the depressed divorcee, Roslyn Tabor with each other and various psychological insights revolving the trajectory of this couple is presented in the “The Misfits”. Along with this, there are also other characters in the drama that come as supportive crew and represent some fragmented shades of life like the character portrayal of Susan, the ex-girlfriend of Langland, the man in the bar, the old cowboy and the new cowboy. Yet, the difference of characterization in “The Misfits” and “The Lovers of Horses” becomes poignant and evident every time a thorough reading and close inspection is given. The obvious notable difference that occurs in the characterization in both the pieces is that “The Lovers of Horses” provides a wide range of characters and like its poignant theme represents not only the flux in life but also the consistent change in the society. Dramatic Element: Initiation, Denouement, Falling Action and Resolution Fiction essentially involves dramatic qualities and actions. Both the literary pieces contain dramatic action within its plot but are highly contrasting in nature. “The Misfits” by Arthur Miller is a drama and ought to contain a proper beginning, denouement, falling action and a resolution. The play initiates with the introduction of the characters of the play, their meeting forms the denouement and the falling action and resolution comes as the aftermath to the denouement. On the contrary, the collection of the story “The Lovers of Horses” comes part by part and in each part there are stories with the same theme and motif. The initiating part introduces the basic motif of the stories within the collection, the second part builds the denouement and the ending part specially the last story of the collection “Girls” is not only the most sensitive story of the entire collection but also strikes the resolution of the book properly. The theme of “The Lovers of Horses” is the flux and the inconsistency in human relations and the story represents it perfectly. Ada and Esther meets after forty years at the edge of their life where Esther fails to recognize her girlhood friend, Ada. This strikes the finest essence of a resolution for the extreme diversified and experimental book on human relations and psyche. Style of Writing: Use of Literary Devices, Symbolism and Irony “The Misfits” by Arthur Miller is presented in a lucid language with lots of local elements incorporated through language to give a strong appeal of Northwest American life. The paradox and pungent irony gets its optimum space within the lucid and free flowing language of the drama “Gay: Honey, we all got to go sometime, reason or no reason. Dyins as natural as livin. The man whos too afraid to die is too afraid to live” (IMDb, 2010). There are many images of youth and age discreetly present within the drama and the equine images poignantly symbolise Northwest American life and culture. The language of “The Lovers of Horses” affirms that the collection has come out from a poetess and this phenomenon becomes more evident in the language Gallagher uses. Like a true magician spinning the yarn of life, sensitively and delicately yielding emotions of life presents a beautiful scheme of thought. Lots of images representing age, human mind and consistent flux in human relations and lives, occur in these stories. Point of View Both the literary pieces have the basic similarity in their point of contention. Both the pieces deal with human relation and life and the trajectory of crest and fall within it but there is a huge difference in presentation. “The Misfits” by Arthur Miller presents a flux or change in life and relation of its protagonists. But “The Lovers of Horses” presents the flux in the lives of many people and esteems the change in life as universal phenomenon by representing it through different characters from different walks of life and society. Conclusion “The Misfits” by Arthur Miller and “The Lovers of Horses” by Tess Gallagher are timeless creations of two creative minds presenting different points of views with the same basic thought from human life and relation. The similar background and subject matter presented in a completely different form becomes obvious through the comparison of these two timeless creations. References Cucinella, Catherine, (2002). Contemporary American women poets: An A-to-Z Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. Pg – 135. IMDb, 2010. The Misfits. Memorable Quotes. Retrieved Online on October 17, 2010 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055184/quotes University of Illinois Press, (2009). An intimate look at the marriage of two twentieth-century American icons. The Genius and the Goddess. Retrieved Online on October 17, 2010 from http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/94bck3rk9780252035449.html Read More