Compare And Contrast The Two Shorts Stories,The Withered Arm And Turned Essay, Research Paper

This essay is aimed at

discussing the differences between the two short stories, called The Withered

Arm and Turned. These stories have similar plots and both deliver and contrast

these in their very own clever ways. They are both based on the idea of

triangular relationships, involving two women and a man. In the story Turned

there is a couple named Mr and Mrs Marroner, and their employed young and

beautiful Swedish maid who goes by the name of Gerta. In the Withered Arm the

relationship is between a lady called Rhoda Brook and a farmer called Farmer

Lodge and his wife who is called Gertrude. This essay will discuss the

similarities and differences between the two stories and their characters, I

will also discuss the language used, and the way the same image is effectively

conveyed in the two stories. ??????????? The author of the first story Turned

is Charlotte Perkins Gilman who was from a poor background and was born in

Connecticut, USA, in 1860. The first story she wrote was called ?The Yellow

Wallpaper? which she wrote in 1892. She then went on to write her best-known

book, which was called ?Women and Economics.? ??????????? The author of ?The Withered Arm? was

called Thomas Hardy who lived from 1840 to 1928. During his life he wrote

fifteen novels including one, which went unpublished. He loved poetry and wrote

thousands of poems in his lifetime. He also published four volumes of short

stories, which is where the story ?The Withered Arm? is from. He was born into

a rich family in Wessex, which is why he loves the area so much and why he

based many of his stories there, and many of his characters on some people from

his life. In fact Rhoda Brook in this story was based on one of his many

partners! ??????????? The basic plot/storyline to Turned

is that a married couple (Mr and Mrs Marroner) decide to take on a young

Swedish homehelp called Gerta. The couple became very attached to Gerta and she

becomes a dear and trusted friend. However she and Mr Marroner have an affair

behind Mrs Marroner?s back and Gerta becomes pregnant. While Mr Marroner is

away on ?business? he sends a letter to Gerta and to his wife but he

accidentally gets the envelopes mixed up and Mrs Marroner finds out. However

she believes that Gerta was taken advantage of and she and Gerta both leave the

house and Mr Marroner. ??????????? The basic plot/storyline to the

Withered arm was that a lady called Rhoda Brook was partners with Farmer Lodge

and they had a child together which Farmer Lodge just left Rhoda to bring up on

her own. Later Farmer Lodge was wed to Mrs Lodge. Rhoda Brook was jealous

because Farmer Lodges? new wife was young and attractive more so than her and

was also angry because Farmer Lodge was not interested in the son that they had

had together. Rhoda had a dream that Gertrude Lodge (Mrs Lodge) came to her

house and that she had thrown her to the ground by her arm and had permanently

left finger marks in her arm. Later she became good friends with Gertrude and

found out that what Rhoda dreamt was actually true. When Gertrude found out who

cursed her by a wizard she was shocked and her friendship with Rhoda Brook

began to seriously deteriorate and the story continues with Gertrude lodges?

quest to heal her arm. ??????????? In both of these stories it has been

a younger woman who has changed the situation. In Turned the young Swede Gerta

changed the situation in the way that she was the one that had an affair with

Mr Marroner and she got pregnant. This caused Mr Marroner?s relationship with

his wife to deteriorate and eventually to Gerta and Mrs Marroner leaving

together and starting a new life with the baby somewhere else. In this story

the young person in the storyline has come in and changed the situation by the

way that the two women who in those days had done the unthinkable and left the

man (Mr Marroner) on his own without any of his previous two partners or his

son. It says that Gerta was like a ?tall rosy cheeked, baby? with ?gold hair

and blue eyes.? This shows that Gerta was a young and attractive Swedish girl

which Mr Marroner took advantage of her just to get what he wanted. ??????????? Again in the Withered Arm it was the

younger person (Gertrude Lodge) who changed the relationship situation and

added the twist in the storyline. It started as Rhoda Brook being in love with

Farmer Lodge who we presume was in love with Rhoda Brook too until one day when

Rhoda found out that she was to have Farmer Lodges child when Farmer Lodge

decided to desert her. When Farmer Lodge moved into the town with his new wife

Gertrude Lodge, Rhoda was jealous as Gertrude had ?hair of a lightish tint and

her face as commonly as a live dolls.? When Rhoda dreamt that she had cursed

Gertrude she thought nothing of it, until the pair became really good friends

and found out that this event did actually take place when Gertrude revealed

her arm to Rhoda. The story continues with Gertrude?s quest to heal her arm.

She found out Rhoda Brook had cursed her and allowed their relationship to

deteriorate. It eventually turned out that her only chance of healing came from

Rhoda Brook?s son. ??????????? It is clear that at first it is the

woman outside of the relationship, which changed the situation and forced their

way into the relationship. Gerta in Turned forced out Mrs Marroner and had Mr

Marroner?s baby but in the end Gerta left Mr Marroner on his own, and she and

Mrs Marroner moved away. In the Withered Arm it was the young Gertrude Lodge

who changed the situation of the relationship by her going through the trouble

to get her arm heeled and finding out that Rhoda had cursed her. Then the

friendship between her and Rhoda deteriorated. This situation change also makes

the twist at the end where her arms? heeling depends on Rhoda?s sons hanging.

(The boy who she previously admired and helped out!) ??????????? It should also be brought to

attention that in both of these stories it was the woman outside of the

relationship who produced the baby when the woman inside of the relationship

was the one trying to conceive. Gertrude Lodge ?had brought him no child? when

Rhoda Brook had already given birth to his son. Mrs Marroner said, ?How they do

come where they are not wanted ? and they don?t come where they are

wanted.?? Implying that Gerta had given

birth to a baby, who really was not wanted, and how she and Mr Marroner were

desperately trying to conceive but were unable to due to the fact of her being

infertile. ??????????? In both of these stories we have

tales of deceit and lies between the three members of the individual triangular

relationships. In Turned the biggest lie comes from Mr Marroner deceiving his

wife by cheating on her and getting the young and impressionable Swedish home

help Gerta pregnant. ?He appreciated the full innocence, the ignorance, the

grateful affection, the habitual docility, of which he took advantage.? When he

made the suicidal mistake of mixing the letters and sending Gerta?s letter to

his wife, and his wife?s letter to Gerta. In his letter he had made more empty

promises by lying to Gerta that he will look after and take care of her, but he

was subtley trying to get Gerta to leave Mrs Marroner and bring up their child

on her own, so that there would be absolutely no chance of his wife finding

out. He just promised to send her money for the baby?s upkeep but he really was

deceiving her. ?That letter, that wretched, cold, carefully guarded, unsigned

letter, that bill ? far safer than a cheque ? these did not speak of

affection.? ??????????? The same sort of thing happened in

the Withered Arm. This story also contained many deceiving lies. Farmer Lodge

didn?t say anything to his new wife about his past relationship with Rhoda

Brook and he also ?forgot? to mention to his wife that she has had his child

and is his wife?s step son. When Gertrude and Rhoda became good friends Rhoda

didn?t tell her about the dream even when Gertrude expressed her concerns for

her ?withered arm?. Gertrude didn?t tell her husband when she went off to visit

Trendle about her arm. When she found out that Rhoda had cursed her she still

said nothing to her husband, even when she went off to try and heal her arm.

?She dared not tell him.? Then her husband Farmer Lodge used the same ?going

away on business? excuse when he went with Rhoda to collect their dead son?s

body. So here again the two stories are very similar, this time in the way of

the use of deceit and lies. ??????????? In the two stories there have been

many decisions in which the outcome of the story has changed. In Turned Mr

Marroner?s original decision to have an affair is the basis of the plot where

his little accident of getting the letters mixed up happens and he loses out on

Gerta, his wife, and his new-born child! His decision to take advantage of the

young and impressionable Gerta was a decision for which he had to face some

serious consequences. Mrs Marroner?s decision to leave Mr Marroner with Gerta

was very brave, as it was unheard of in those days for a woman to leave her

husband. Plus she would also have to support herself and the baby financially,

which would be hard to earn money and bring up a baby. ?She rose and walked,

her head held high. This is a sin of man against woman,? she said. This shows

how Mrs Marroner still left with her pride intact. She later left her husband a

letter, which read: ?I have gone, I will care for Gerta, goodbye? ??????????? In the Withered Arm, Rhoda?s

decision never to see Gertrude again was taken away from her when Gertrude paid

them a visit to bring her son a new pair of shoes, as she saw him in the market

place and felt sorry for the boy with an old ruined pair of shoes on his feet

?In her basket, Mrs Lodge brought the pair of boots that she had promised to

the boy, and other useful articles.? This shows that Mrs Lodge liked to help

out the poor with her wealth. It was because of this that she became a friend

with Rhoda. When Gertrude decided to visit Conjurer Trendle it resulted in the

breakdown in her relationship with Rhoda Brook as she found out that it was

Rhoda who cursed her. The second time she goes to visit Trendle she finds out

that she must touch the neck of a freshly hanged person to turn her blood and

heel her arm. She later goes to the hanging and sees her husband with Rhoda

Brook there and it turns out that the person whose neck she had to touch was

Rhoda?s son! Rhoda also decided not to touch any of Farmer Lodges? money.

?Absolutely refusing, however to have anything to do with the provision that

was made for her.? I feel she did this for her pride, as he was never

interested in their son in life so why should he be interested in him in death? ??????????? Although in the two stories the

storylines are rather similar it?s weird that the settings are really

different. In Turned the story is set in the urban realms of the United States.

The background was wealthy as we can tell by the description of Mrs Marroner?s

bedroom. ?In her soft-carpeted, thick-curtained, richly furnished chamber.?

However in the Withered Arm the settings are rather different to that of

Turned. It is set in the rural 19th century England in a very poor

background, well at least where the main character Rhoda Brook is concerned. It

says that Gertrude Lodge was bringing Rhoda and her son gifts, which is how

Rhoda and Gertrude became friends. ??????????? This is interesting as you would

expect affairs and adultery to go on in an urban state in the States but in rural

19th century England? It was unheard of for that sort of thing to

happen! So it just goes to prove a point that adultery can happen in all places

and has done for many years and I suppose is just one of those things in

triangular relationships that will never be changed, and wont be for many years

to come. ??????????? These two stories come to a close in

very different ways; one ends just how it began where as the other story ended

as a completely unexpected twist in the story of what you would have expected

to happen. In Turned the story ends with Mrs Marroner Leaving her husband with

Gerta to start up a new life with her and his baby. It shows the bravery these

women had to leave their rich home and move somewhere completely new where

their fortune and well-being was hanging very much in the balance. Later Mr

Marroner went in search of his wife and when he found out where she lived, a

woman appeared at the door with a younger attractive woman holding a baby, and

the woman who used to be his wife said to him ?What have you to say to us?? ??????????? In the Withered Arm the story ended

with Rhoda Brook returning to her old job that she had at the start of the

story which was the milking of cows, Gertrude became too old and frail and died

and Farmer Lodge became a kind, caring and thoughtful man! Gertrude died three

days later in the town ?Her blood had been turned indeed, too far.? After this

Rhoda had lost her friend and her son so she decided to resume where she had

started where ?Her monotonous milking at the dairy was resumed.? Farmer Lodge

on the third corner of this triangular relationship gave up his farms and

became a member of the parish after he overcame his remorse and moodiness. ??He

eventually changed for the better, and appeared as a chastened and thoughtful

man? ??????????? To conclude this essay triangular

relationships happen and always will happen for years to come and it doesn?t

make any difference about what century it happens in or if it is from a rich or

poor background because affairs, unwanted babies and triangular relationships

will always happen. ??????????? ??????????? ? ? ???????????