You gave my hyacinths & The girls in their summer dresses

Two short stories You gave my hyacinths by Janette Turner Hospital and The girls in their summer dresses by Irwin Shaw explore serious human sexual desires. Both stories share a tone of desperation in them. The main characters carry external conflicts with the minor characters. In both stories the main characters go through a situation in which they are to bring a change to themselves by changing the minor characters behavior and attitude but end up learning something from them and living normal lives.

In each of the stories the main character tries the change the minor character's attitude but instead ends up loosing and learning something off them. In Janette's book, the teacher wants to change Dellis's attitude improve her and at least make her finish high school but instead ends up learning from her that the only reason she hated her was because the person she loved, Gian liked her and wanted to lay her.

Teacher in primary school in northern Laos

Five Stories (short story collection)

English: Jewish Children with their Teacher in Sam...

This is clearly shown when Dellis and the teacher are walking by Gian's house,

"Gian says you're beautiful. Gian says that you.... he says he would like to.... that's why I hated you. But now I don't. (80)

For the teacher this is a big blow. Due to this she learns the reason why Dellis hated her and she ends up learning something new instead of teaching her. On the other hand Frances in Irwin's book experiences similar conflict. She wishes to change Michael and wants him not to look at other woman around him and only to be concentrating at her and to start spending some time with her. This can be seen when these couples are walking through the streets of New York, Frances says "I have an Idea, lets just hang around with each other, you and me, we're always...