Both stories of "Little Cogburt" and "Cotton Candy" hold both similarities and differences. If we read beyond into each one of the stories, we can depict more conclusions and analyze the text more in depth. So let's grab our reading glasses and dive deep into both stories!!!
When reading both stories, there are simple similarities that are present. Such as they're both stories from the Caribbean and that they incorporate an sense of historical aspect in their stories. With the "Little Cogburt", the author mentions how the husband works as a plantation owner. With this information you know that this is a story from the period of slavery. In relation with "Cotton Candy", the author's origins is from Cuba and in the story, the Cuban Revolution had an effect on the main character's living conditions."Giving reasons to herself, she became used to the circumstances,accepting the hard buffetings of life without suffering too much. Her bread arrived wrapped in an Official List...." This line states that because of the revolution, they had to be provided food rations and specified jobs and because of this, Lola had been assigned a job to sell lottery tickets. Both have a sense of personal struggle within the historical period. Another similarity is parenting, more how mothers parent children. In "Cotton Candy", the mother tends to be very strict and controlling with her daughter resulting in her not being able to fulfill her personal desires, which molds her into over-obsessive person. The line,"A growing young woman under the domination of a tyrannical mother, Lola grew wild in the quiet settlement of Minas..." helps to further prove that statement. While the mother in that story is authoritative and overprotective, the mother in "Little Cogburt" is the opposite. The mother of Cogburt would act indifferent to him like she has to take care of a child she never wanted because he was disabled. " but although the the nobility of his naming might have aided his survival, it did nothing else for him." This implies that the only thing was
noteworthy of him was his name, not even himself as a human being.
Despite the comparisons, there are distinct differences from each story that we can identify. There are such distinctions such as both of the author's purposes, overall messages and how they go on about in portraying the stories. In "Little Cogburt", the author's purpose is related to the experiences of the author, Phyllis Shand Allfrey. She was born in Dominica and then lived in England. She was born into a white family that had a high hierarchy. She then formed and participated in various socialist reform groups. In the story, a wife and husband that was a bank owner, move from their wealthy life in England to being a plantation owner in rural Dominica. The experiences that the author had in her life are reflected in the story. Even though the specific details in the story are a bit different from her life, the concept of it all is still the same. You can also get an idea of the time period and society through her use of descriptive words. Allfrey uses descriptive words to emphasize on skin color and race. Lines such as "I won't give a party to those dark children,those dark children..." and ",seeing perhaps two healthy Anglo-Saxon girls dash across the terrace and disappear into emerald shade." give a sense of preference towards the girls and discrimination to the dark children. This can all be interpreted by just how the author uses her words. Whereas, in "Cotton Candy", the author, Dora Alonso was persistent in telling stories about the not-so-typical characters who are marginalized and during the early 20th century, female sexuality and desire were common themes in Cuba and is prominent in the story of "Cotton Candy". The occurring word "virgin" throughout the story tells how desperate the main character, Lola is to find a man and "sex" relates with the common themes at that time. Also Alonso's use of descriptive words are more to visualize nature and physical aspect. With sentences like"A big woman with a thick waist and straight,fat,piano-like legs,arms with hanging flesh, and feet that walked twisted like a wild parrot.", you can definitely picture what she is depicting. It's magnified adjectives like this that are throughout the story. With elements like these,we can improve comprehending readings better to compare and contrast them.
Comments
Post a Comment