The stories 'Tony Kytes, The Arch-Deceiver' and 'Turned' are somewhat similar when presenting the relationship between men and women but also they are different; the author of 'Tony Kytes' Thomas Hardy is sending the message that men and women are both equally foolish when in love. On the other hand Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows a lot of feminist themes in her story 'Turned' by saying that men are deceitful and abusive of women and that women are their victims and should fight back by uniting and looking out for each other.
This, however, is not the only difference between the stories, there are many others concerning, for example, forms and structure: in 'Turned' Gilman does not go with the story in a traditional order, she uses a lot of flashbacks as the story starts with parallel beginnings of Mrs. Marroner and Gerta both crying "In her soft-carpeted, thick-curtained, richly furnished chamber, Mrs.
English: Signature of American writer Charlotte Pe...
English: American feminist poet and writer Charlot...
TonyMarroner lay sobbing on the wide, soft bed" and "In her uncarpeted, thin-curtained, poorly furnished chamber on the top floor, Gerta Petersen lay sobbing on the narrow, hard bed", then we go back to the reason of their crying then move back to what they did after they cried. Hence going back and forth with the story and making the structure of it complicated, like the characters' lives and problems. Hardy, however, prefers to go with the story in chronological order resorting only to one flashback thus making the story simple like his characters' lives and problems. Also the journey by the wagon from the market place, over the hill then back to Tony's home resembles the great journey of life; the hill also could be a symbol of problems. Tony's journey resembles the journey of Odysseus in the Odyssey but on a much...