Comparative Commentary: "A house for Mr. Biswas" and "The Long View"

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The two texts I will compare in this comparative commentary are an extract from “A house for Mr. Biswas” by V.S. Naipaul, which I will refer to as text A and and an extract from “The long view” by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which I will refer to as “text B”. Theme In text A the theme is about a boy in his puberty. You do not get to know his name. He is confronted with physical and emotional changes, such as getting an erection without wanting it and everything he sees he refers to pain and suffering. He is ashamed of himself. In text B the theme is probably about a somewhat older man, because he has his own ground-floor flat with a shelve of alcohol in it. The extract is about the man, Louis Vale, coming home in his apartment. The apartment is described. Like the character from text A, Louis Vale is not leading an average life. In the last line can be read that he is an alcoholic. Genre Both stories are novels. Due to the fact that both texts are just extracts, not much can be told about the kind of novel. Audience Both novels are written for anyone interested, but mostly for the same age group as the main character. This mean that text A is written for adolescents and text B for adults. If you only look at the difficulty of both texts text A indeed is a little bit easier than text B Style and structure The writers from both texts create a negative atmosphere by describing both rooms pessimistic. In text A the objects in the room are described a objects you can hurt yourself with, like “a nail that could puncture his eye” (line 8) and “every leg of the green table could press and crush” (line 9). By saying the main character covered the vulnerable parts of his body and that the character wished he had the hands to cover himself all over the author suggests the insecurity the main character is experiencing. In text B the room is described as dull

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