• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

In 'Dream Life and Real Life' and 'The Half-Brothers', how is sympathy created for the character in each, who makes an important sacrifice?

Extracts from this document...


In 'Dream Life and Real Life' and 'The Half-Brothers', how is sympathy created for the character in each, who makes an important sacrifice? Comment on language used, structure, and techniques. Use reference to the text to support your ideas, and compare the two texts as necessary. The two texts begin very differently, Schreiner, in Dream Life and Real Life, immediately begins to build a sense of sympathy in the reader. She begins repetitive use of adjectives like "little" and "alone". On the other hand, Elizabeth Gaskell, in the Half-Brothers, is far more implicit, throughout the story, in her use of language to describe Gregory. She focuses more on the ill treatment of others toward him; how he is described as "stupid" and "sulky". Gregory himself speaks very little throughout the story, though in my own opinion, he is the main character. We feel sympathy for him, and the verbal abuse he receives from others, as opposed to the obvious physicality of Jannita's mistreatment in 'Dream Life and Real Life'; "He asked her why her feet were bare, and what the marks on her back were". ...read more.


They are truly alone. Neither Jannita nor Gregory however, is described as being ill natured. Their characters are in fact described as something much to the contrary. The narrator describes Gregory briefly at a point nearing the end of 'The Half-Brothers'; "He was not a cross lad; he was patient and good-natured, and would try to do a kind turn for anyone, eve if they had been scolding or cuffing him not a minute before". This is a very effective technique used by Gaskell, as when we read this, we cannot help but wonder why he is so mis-treated, when he I quite clearly a good person. The same is evident in the case of Jannita, though the description is a little more implicit. Towards the start of the story, Jannita falls asleep whilst she is supposed to be watching her goats. Much to her misfortune, three men nearby take one of the goats. When she returns to the farmhouse, the Boer asks if she has been asleep, as he notices the missing sheep. ...read more.


As with Gregory, she pays for her goodness with her own life. The knowledge that both characters were good and kind, and had no obligation to make any sacrifice, went to the aid of such selfish and cruel people, adds to the extent of sympathy that the reader feels for them. The story raises issues of self-doubt within the reader; would you do the same? Could you bring yourself to help someone who was so cruel and hurtful towards you? I feel that both Gaskell and Schreiner are highly successful in creating sympathy for the main characters, and they achieve this in many ways. Their styles are very different; Schreiner being far more explicit than Gaskell, and the structure of their stories is also very varied. It is interesting to see that whist both texts are about such different things; 'Dream Life and Real Life' being far more focused on Jannita's escape from her tormenting masters, and 'Half-Brothers' centreing more around the relationships between Gregory and the other characters, they come to two very similar ends. Amber Doyle 10IS ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text


Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Blood Brothers essays


    It is interesting that there are no male characters - in almost all fairytales there is a dominant male, and this is possibly our first clue to Angela Carter's views on feminism and the woman's role in society. It is interesting also that the mother was so willing to put her daughter into danger.

  2. Compare the structure and setting Of the two short stories 'The Half Brothers' By ...

    the cottage, like the ornaments "Big-eyed flop-eared rabbits and beribboned kittens And flowery milkmaids and a pair of naked Chubby children wearing daisy chains." All these actions are those of a kind person, and we begin to like Mrs. Rutter.

  1. What similarities and differences have you found between

    There is also a less obvious theme in the stories of religion. For example "we heard mass at St Augustine's and said a prayer for father" in 'My Oedipus Complex' and "God's will be done" in 'The Half Brothers'. This use of religion in the stories sets the period as nowadays most people are not very religious.


    Mickey needs to look plain and like he doesn't wear expensive clothes. He needs to look filthy, especially since he has just came from the park. The audience should feel guilt as such because his mum can't afford expensive clothes.


    For example, when Linda, Mickey and Edward were on the bus on the way to school, chairs were placed in rows of four with an aisle running between identifying two chairs on each side. Each actor continuously jogged their bodies up and down as though they were actually on a

  2. My Mother Said I Never Should - response.

    In the extract we were performing, we noticed that there are three main changes in its structure. We noticed that the language in the first few lines starts off with an atmosphere of great tension and uncertainty, in which Jackie and Margaret are making awkward conversation to avoid what their heart truly desires to discuss.

  1. In the short story &amp;amp;#147;The Half Brothers&amp;amp;#148; how does Elizabeth Gaskell manipulate the reader&amp;amp;#146;s ...

    her sorrow, marriage is a joyful time for people but for her it brings distraught - connection to when she was pregnant with Gregory. Gaskell made it very clear to her audience using explicit language that 'she did not love him' - puts it very bluntly.

  2. How does Elizabeth Gaskell elicit sympathy for Helen, Gregory and even William Preston in ...

    Helen also has 'pressing debts' and for the money that she has to pay back she sells what is left of the stock on the farm one by one. Most of the stock had already died by this time. 'There was another child coming'. This means that she cannot work.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work