Compare and contrast - Essay Example

A Comparative Analysis of Sweat and A Rose for Emily The short stories Sweat and A Rose for Emily written by Hurston and Faulkner, respectively proffer narrative discourses about women’s challenging experiences on their journey in life. The stories depict detailed events of the main characters, Delia in Sweat, and Emily, as narrated by an outsider, whose point of view is objective and distinct from the characters and told of how they encounter travails from significant personas through loved ones.

The unfolding of crucial circumstances and scenarios in the stories evoke diverse reactions from the readers ranging from empathy, awe, fear, anxiety, and compassion. The underlying round characters of the two stories would be evaluated and compared in the light of significant symbols, events, manifestations and climax as both Delia and Emily portrayed the role of women in men’s lives. The main characters in Sweat are Delia, the protagonist, a black washerwoman who had been working on the laundry for white people; her husband, Sykes, the antagonist is an abusive husband openly and vagrantly practicing infidelity; Bertha, the other woman of Sykes who he sleeps with; and the townspeople at the village.

On the other hand, in A Rose for Emily, the main characters are Emily Grierson, a round character is depicted by the town as a tradition; the rest of the characters are basically flat characters such as Tobe, Emily’s servant; the townspeople; mentions of Emily’s father (who died) and Homer Barron, the significant person in Emily’s life who supposedly dated her and then, disappeared. The main characters are similar in gender and being ‘talk of the town’ in some events in the story; but distinctly different in personality.

Delia, despite her small frame and silent stance showed strength and courage in disposition when faced with an extremely dangerous event (when confronted by the rattlesnake). On the other hand, Emily, who lived a recluse life, showed passive lifestyle living in the shadows of her house, rarely going out nor working for a living. The most significant symbols in the stories traditional symbols where meanings are universally understood: sweat is a symbol of hard work, all the struggles and challenges of washing the clothes of other people to support Delia and her husband.

In addition, the snake, which had been manifested initially as a bullwhip and had been the central image of the story, is also a symbol of evil, of its ability to harness fear. In Emily’s story, the traditional symbols are the house (initially grand and beautiful that eventually weathered physical deterioration and decay) that represents analogies to Emily; the hair (that depicts the lapse of time); and lime and arsenic (symbols for covering foul smell and even supposedly used to poison Homer).

There are similarities in symbolism contributory to the climax of death: the snake for Sweat and arsenic (for Homer) and time (for Emily) in A Rose for Emily. The setting for Sweat is a small all-black town in Florida, Orlando with the opening paragraph describing Delia sorting washcloths at about 11:00 pm on a Sunday. It is classified as a local color fiction that focuses on distinct characters and dialects of the specific region. On the other hand, Faulkner’s story was set in the county seat of Yoknapatawpha, Jefferson at the funeral of Emily.

With both women, as the main round characters in the opening sequence, the difference lies in the state of life: Delia was alive and working, while Emily was dead and lying in state. The underlying round characters of the two stories, as evaluated and compared in the light of significant traditional symbols, events, manifestations and climax where both Delia and Emily portrayed the role of women in men’s lives, manifest the triumph of women over men, who were abusive and unfaithful to them.

Death, the ultimate event, either through natural means (Emily), a karma through the snake (Sykes), and through arsenic (Homer) ended the lives of characters who had been instrumental in providing misery, trials, challenges to their journeys. Ultimately, Delia’s contention that “Oh well, whatever goes over the Devil’s back, is got to come under his belly… Sykes, like everybody else, is gointer reap his sowing” (Gwynn, 130) was supported indicating that eventually Skyes will get what’s coming to him.

So did Emily. Work Cited Hurston, Zora Neal. “Sweat.” Sourced from Gwynn, R.S. Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Longman. Pp. 128 – 139. 2008. Print. Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Sourced from Gwynn, R.S. Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Longman. Pp. 139 – 148. 2008. Print.