Compare and contrast The Monkey’s Paw, Lamb to the slaughter and Lost Hearts Essay Example

at his mansion, "Aswarby Hall. " His cousin, "Mr. Abney," is a strange man, he "all who knew anything of Mr.

Abney looked upon him as a some what austere recluse. " His intensions for, "Stephen," coming to, "Aswarby hall," are to kill him.All the stories have the similarity of death or dying. All the stories have a theme of fate, and that life is guided. The stories are all family related with the death of one member of the family.

Men write all the stories. The characters in, The Monkey's Paw, are Mr. White and Mrs white, Herbert and Sergeant major. Mr. White is a very greedy man, "father and son were at chess.

Mr white, who, having seen a fatal mistake after it was too late. "He takes careless risks. Mrs. White, "the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire. " The, "white hair.

Symbolises knowledge. Herbert is Mr and Mrs White's son and is very observant he first sees the fatal mistake in the chess game and then he also spots the Sergeant walking along the road. The characters in, Lamb to the slaughter, are Mary Malony, Patrick Malony, the police officers and Sam. Mary Malony is a stereotypical wife of the 1900's, where the man goes out to work and the wife stays at home and cleans.

"Mary Malony was waiting for her husband to come home from work. "Her life revolves around him. Patrick Malony is dominant and depends on his wife for most things. Sit down just for a minute sit down. It wasn't till then that she began to get frightened. Go on he said sit down.

" Patrick Malony is very secretive. The police officers are first suspicious but then after time at the house they become comfortable in Mary Malony's presents. Sam is the shopkeeper in the story he doesn't notice any thing wrong with Mary but when he asks the question, "how're you. " Mary just answers, "I want some potatoes please. " She avoids the question implying maybe things aren't okay. The characters in, Lost hearts, are Mr Abney, Stephen, Mrs Bunch and Mr Parkes.

Mr Abney is a strange direct person and keeps him self to himself. "The offer was unexpected because all who knew any thing of Mr Abney looked upon him as a some what austere recluse. " "very little was known of Mr Abney's pursuits or temper. " Stephen the, "small boy," is vulnerable, young, has no direct family.

He asks questions about every thing. "Is Mr Abney a good man, and will he go to heaven? " Mrs Bunch is very calm and relaxed is uneducated we know this because the way she talk, "didn't I never tell you of the little boy as he took in out of the streets.Mrs Bunch is also very talkative. "Mrs bunch was the most comfortable and human person whom Stephen had as yet met in Aswarby. She also knows a lot about the history of, "Aswasby hall. " "Her residence at the Hall was of twenty years standing.

" Mr Abney and Patrick Malony are similar in the way there are both direct and have a secret which they try to keep to them self's. Mr Abney and Mary Malony are the same in that they are

both very unpredictable. The structure of, The Monkey's Paw, is that the story is written in three parts.The structure of Lamb to the slaughter is that there are lots of twist and unexpected u-turns in the story, it is written in a linear fashion.

The structure of "Lost hearts," is a continuous flow of writing, short sentences, towards the end of the story, creates tension. At the end of the story it all comes apparent about what Mr. Abney is really like. The story The Monkey's Paw, is set in about the 1902 this is evident because there was electricity in the house but most of the light was form the fire.

Herbert died in and industrial accident and at this time industry was growing rapidly.Lamb to the slaughter, is set in the 1950's and is most recent, this is evident because, "she heard the tyres on the gravel outside, and the car door slamming," the presents of a car proves this story to be most recent. Lost hearts, is the oldest and was set in 1895 because of certain design features of the house and the "post chaise," that brought Stephen to the mansion. The police, nowadays, would have followed up the disappearing of the two other young children and would have found something due to forensic evidence.

The culture in The Monkey's Paw, shows us that the story is English but isn't modern by the selection of vocabulary. Lamb to the slaughter, culture is English but there are some words that could be said to relate to an American vocabulary like, "grocery. " The word grocery has a strong American culture. The culture in

Lost hearts, is also English but is written in a very old English. This is the oldest of all the stories and can be seen by the way sentences are written, "the offer was unexpected because all who knew any thing of Mr Abney,"The most popular image in all the stories is the image of fire it is mentioned in all the stories.

Fire is the image if warmth and comfort but is it also a warning and can be dangerous. There are also images of drink, and doors opening. The image of opening doors could have something to do the deaths of the family members and could symbolise a new beginning with out someone you love. The stories have very different content but are similar in many ways; themes can be the same and so can the characters if you look deep enough at the background and what the have done there are similarities.