Fiction analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fiction analysis - Essay Example Because the grandmother recognizes him, the entire family is taken back into the woods and killed with the exception of the grandmother, who is allowed to talk with the Misfit until the rest of the family is dead and then is killed there at the side of the road. A few more superficial comparisons can be made in that the main character of each story is a woman, each woman must face the death of her son and both women die by the end of the story for reasons they have little or no control over. However, there are deeper similarities between these two stories that emerge when one takes a closer look. These similarities include being written in the realist tradition, featuring men who suddenly realize their own common connections and both having a gothic element. One of the most glaring similarities between these two stories is that they are both written in the realist tradition. The realist tradition in American literature focused on the concept that people were just people, not submerge d divinities as the transcendentalists claimed or helpless victims of fate as the naturalists claimed. "These American realists believed that humanity's freedom of choice was limited by the power of outside forces" (Penrose). In other words, realism acknowledges individuals have their own power to make choices, but that they are also forced to work within boundaries established by external events. In Chopin's story, this is seen as Desiree finds herself trapped in a situation in which her beloved husband can no longer stand the sight of her because of the obviously mixed blood seen in their baby - a condition she cannot control. However, her fate is determined by her individual choice to "not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off plantation of Valmonde ... She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again" (Chopin). It is also found in O'Connor's story as the grandmother is unable t o determine where she will go for a family vacation, but has the option of going along with the family or continuing to bid for a trip to Tennessee instead of Florida. In each case, there are limiting outside forces, but it is still the individual's choice that leads them to their fate. Both stories also have a strong gothic element. Some of the common elements of Gothic literature are emotional terror, some form of crumbling architecture, death and madness occurring among the characters, a sense of pervading darkness and plenty of secrets and hereditary curses (Hume 282). Desiree's home is dark enough to give Madame Volmonde shivers with its deeply sloping roof, "steep and black like a cowl," and the "big, solemn oaks" whose "thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall" (Chopin), giving a strong instance of foreshadowing in the symbolism used within this description. The nearby marshes, the stubble of the fields that cut Desiree's feet on the November evening that s he disappears, and the prevailing gloom of the harshly treated slaves all function to create a gothic environment. This is further enhanced by the mental anguish of the lady as she perceives