Compare how Hardy and Dahl keep there readers interested in the stories Essay Example
Compare how Hardy and Dahl keep there readers interested in the stories Essay Example

Compare how Hardy and Dahl keep there readers interested in the stories Essay Example

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  • Pages: 6 (1580 words)
  • Published: October 15, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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The focus of my essay is to deconstruct two stories, exploring both their similarities and differences. Specifically, I will examine the roles of women as well as the two main characters in each story. The works that I will compare, Thomas Hardy's Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver and Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter, share both similarities and differences.

Compared to Lamb to the Slaughter, Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver was written earlier and focuses on a variety of themes, primarily deception. The protagonist, Tony, begins engaged to Milly but subsequently takes three women for a ride in his cart, with two hidden from each other, believing they are the only one Tony intends to be with. The discovery of their presence and subsequent anger towards Tony leads to conflict.

During the first st

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ory, Tony asks three women if they will be his. Hannah initially refuses, Unity follows with a no and Milly agrees to still marry Tony, believing the previous responses were a joke. The second story, Lamb to the Slaughter, portrays a pregnant Mary Maloney waiting for her husband to come home. Upon his arrival, he is in a bad mood and drinks heavily. He informs Mary of some negative news, but it's unknown what the news pertains to. Mary attempts to ignore the news and encourages him to eat dinner, but he continues to decline.

Mary Maloney lost her temper and used the frozen lamb, meant for dinner, to strike and kill her husband, Patrick. To cover her crime, she acted normal and left the house before returning to discover him dead. Mary then feigned ignorance and called the police for help but not befor

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offering them the lamb leg that was the murder weapon. The police accepted and unknowingly ate the evidence while Mary smiled. Meanwhile, the beginning of Hardy's Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver story describes a settled atmosphere. It uses a descriptive narrative to depict Tony Kytes as a serious-looking man. However, the seriousness seems to attract women, as we will find out later in the essay. This makes the reader curious and interested in learning more about Tony Kytes and his character.

Both "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Tony Kytes - The Arch Deceiver" have tense crisis points, but they differ in tone and setting. In "Lamb to the Slaughter," Roald Dahl describes a warm and clean room with lit table lamps, suggesting someone is home. Mary Maloney stands in shock after murdering her husband Patrick Maloney, holding onto a piece of meat tightly. On the other hand, in "Tony Kytes - The Arch Deceiver," the comedic crisis point arises when three women discover each other in a cart with Tony. They all look at him while he stands in a real mess, as described by Hardy with the line: "when lo and behold she came face to face with Unity." Readers feel merry and amused due to this funny crisis point and are interested in reading more.

The crisis point in "Lamb to the Slaughter" is when Mary Maloney realizes that she has killed her husband and is standing over him. This moment is the tensest point in the story. On the other hand, readers find the comedy crisis point in "Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver" farcical because Tony has deceived three women into thinking he likes them,

and Hannah believes she is the only one in the cart while Unity and Milly are bidding in the back. Each woman is disgusted with Tony because of his lies, making the readers also think of this point as farcical. Dahl's writing style reflects the rage of Mrs. Maloney. As someone who is angry doesn't wait to do something, Dahl made this part of the story short to illustrate Mrs. Maloney's quick reaction when she killed her husband.

An illustration of Dahl's writing can be seen in the line "At this point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head." This line conveys that Mary was so furious that she acted impulsively and struck him. Each story has a surprising turn, which is reflected by the writer's style in the final few lines. In Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver, the revelation occurs when Tony is rejected by two of the women. The writer's manner in the final few lines is to depict that Tony ultimately ends up with his initial partner, Milly. In other words, Hardy suggests that despite playing with the affections of two other women, Tony remained with his original partner. This is evident when Hardy writes "And then he kissed her." He demonstrates his style by linking the conclusion back to the twist, indicating that Tony remains with the same woman he started with at the end of the day.

Comparing the twist endings of "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Tony Kytes - The Arch Deceiver,"

both stories contain an unexpected and morally questionable conclusion. In Dahl's story, the policemen unknowingly eat the evidence and their search of the house is in vain, cleverly emphasized by Dahl's closing line. Similarly, readers of "Tony Kytes" may find Milly's decision to return to Tony after he had tried to court other women bizarre or immature, while contemporary readers may find it amusing but still feel that Tony deserved to be alone at the end. Ultimately, in "Lamb to the Slaughter," the cliffhanger ending leaves readers to decide Mrs. M's fate.

In both stories, there are unanswered questions that compel the reader to continue reading. Dahl leaves the ending of "Lamb to the Slaughter" open for interpretation, as evidenced by Mrs. Maloney's laughter after realizing that the policemen are consuming the evidence. The reader is left to speculate about her fate. Similarly, in "The Landlady," the ultimate fate of Billy Weaver remains unknown. Despite these uncertainties, both stories engage the reader and encourage them to ponder their own conclusions.

The texts "Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" provoke questions for the reader. Does Tony Kytes learn from his mistakes with women and have a successful marriage with Milly in the future? Will Mrs Maloney get caught and punished for killing her husband? What was the bad news that Patrick Maloney told her? These stories may not satisfy readers with traditional values. In Tony Kytes's time, readers may have believed that Tony shouldn't end up with any women, and those who asked for a ride were loose. Similarly, traditional readers might have wanted Mrs Maloney to get caught and punished for defying

her husband's decisions as women had limited rights at the time of writing. Through Hardy's portrayal of Tony as a deceitful man, we understand Hannah's impressions of him.

In my opinion, Tony received deserved repercussions after being rejected by two women but then reconciling with Milly. However, I found it ridiculous that he was still able to win her over. I believe he warranted greater punishment, similar to Patrick Maloney's fate in "Lamb to the Slaughter". I perceive Tony as a gloomy individual, as portrayed by Dahl stating "For God's sake," revealing his short temper towards his wife. On the other hand, I think he received undeserved treatment as his only intention was declining supper and informing his wife of some distressing news. Despite this, he still incurred consequences.

The humorous tone in Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver is largely attributed to the women characters. Milly's immature behavior adds a touch of humor as she forgives Tony despite his deceit. At one point Hardy writes, "If you like.You didn't really mean what you said to them?" which highlights Milly's naivety. Similarly, Unity and Hannah's refusal of Tony's proposal further adds to the comical aspect of the story. In contrast, Lamb to Slaughter features Mary Maloney as the tragic character who kills her husband over a trivial issue of not wanting to eat supper. Depending on their perspective, modern and contemporary readers may have varying reactions to these stories.

The readers who read Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver during its time of publication may have believed that the women portrayed were behaving in a loose manner by flirting with Tony and asking for a ride on his cart.

Such actions were considered disgraceful and against traditional values, which would have shocked and outraged readers. In contrast, modern readers may view this behavior as normal, as it reflects the current way of life where women try to win men over by flirting.

Lamb to the Slaughter presents a different scenario. Modern readers may agree with Mrs. Maloney's decision to kill her husband because they believe that women now have more rights and a greater voice in public. They wouldn't find Patrick's rude behavior acceptable and would seek revenge in other ways, not by killing him. Overall, Lamb to the Slaughter creates greater interest among readers due to its modern storyline and exciting cliffhanger ending compared to Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver, which is relatively dull with an unexciting ending.

Therefore, Lamb to the Slaughter is a more engaging book than Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver and will keep modern readers interested with its contemporary plot and thrilling conclusion.

In comparison, my suggestion is to choose "Lamb to the Slaughter" instead of "Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver."

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