Review of Oscar Wild's Devoted Friend

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Topic: Discuss the story “The Devoted Friend” as revealing the exploiting of the poor working class of Society by drawing a comparison and a contrast between the characters of little Hans and Miller. Explanation: This tale was published in 1888 as a part of a collection of stories for children called The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde. Wilde was at the time 34 years old and the father of two toddler sons to whom he recited his tales. The story of The Devoted Friend is related by and told to anthropomorphic characters: a green linnet is the teller of the tale while the intent listener is an old water-rat; the setting is a pond with secondary figures of mama duck teaching her reluctant ducklings how to swim. While mama duck and the green linnet share a positive, loving outlook on life, water-rat appears cynical to the point of being bitter. He is a rodent intellectual precursor of the main character of the story, a wealthy miller. They share the same points of view, and, besides the spoiled miller's wife, the water-rat is the only ally to the miller's heedless and self-absorbed ways. Little Hans relates the linnet, was "an honest, little fellow…he lived in a small cottage all by himself, and every day he worked in his garden." The story proceeds to describe the friendship between Little Hans and the miller (the only true friend being Little Hans, to the point of extreme gullibility, while the miller is out for what he can get, in return offering vague promises that go unkept). So here there is a classic motif of the rich man robbing the naïve and trusting poor man, a sort of Robin Hood in reverse. As the friendship develops, the miller finds more and more he can take or demand from Little Hans, often to the detriment of the poor country fellow who must neglect his own duties and few possessions to pay homage to, and correct
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