Comparison between Country Lovers and The Proposal Essay

Comparison between Country Lovers and The Proposal - Essay Example Then we will analyze the similarities and differences between a short story and play. Whether a literary piece is a short story or play, as long as they are categorized in the same theme there will always be similarities, with that being said regardless of similarities when comparing two literary works differences can always be found as well. The short story, Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, is story about two children from different ethnicities who formed a relationship that later turned sexual. This story takes place on a South African farm, where ethnicity had a major influence on how people were classified. Being a person with white skin, one automatically had superiority over a person with black skin. The boy, Paulus Eysendyck, was fond of Thebedi, the daughter of the help. For years, Paulus went back and forth to school and every time he was home, he engaged in secret activities with Thebedi. As they grew older, their relationship turned sexual and eventually a child was crea ted. Paulus was unaware of the child until after birth. Thebedi had married Njabulo, even though Njabulo knew that the child was not his. When Paulus returned for the holidays from veterinary school, he was surprised to hear Thebedi had a child and rushed to her home to see the child. The next day he returned and poisoned the child. Paulus was charged with murder and a trial began. Thebedi appeared at the court date with a new child in hand by her husband Njabulo, only to find out that he was a free man. The evidence was circumstantial to the courts and another white man gets away with murder. The objective of this story was to express the issues racial relationships faced in the South Africa from 1949-1994 (Driver, 1994). The Proposal by Anton Chekhov is a play that displayed how one word or sentence can send an ordinary conversation down a path of no return. The play is a one act comic farce set during Chekhov’s Russia, a time when marriage was seen as a way of gaining econ omic wealth for a majority of the people. In this play, the marriage concept is satirized to show the real purpose of marriage, which is for materialistic gain as opposed to true love. Ivan VassilevitchLomov was the neighbor of Stephan StepanovitchChubukov, and his daughter Natalya Stephanovna. Ivan came to Stephan’s home one day to ask for Natalya’s hand in marriage. Stephan was overjoyed and agreed to the marriage. Stephan went and got Natalya so Ivan and her can talk. Before Ivan could ask the question they began to argue about a small area of land and who it belonged to. That went on for a little while, until Ivan left. Once Stephan found out Ivan left, he told Natalya why Ivan came. Natalya begged her father to return Ivan. Once he returned the father brought up marriage, Ivan and Natalya agreed and then they kissed. The content of both stories is similar but different. They both involve a male and female engaged in some sort of relationship. In the Country Lovers , the two grew up together and gradually built a relationship. Whereas in The Proposal, Ivan and Natalya were long time neighbors and Ivan felt he was getting old so he asked a woman who he knew for a long time hand in marriage. Paulus and Thebedi’s relationship was forbidden because of race, but Ivan and Natalya’