Compare and Contrast
Comparison and Contrast Essay Analyzing literature can be achieved in many different ways and it should help the read gather a better understanding of the piece. The pieces of literature that I want to examine further are “The Swimmer” and “Prisoner on Hell Planet”. Both of these short stories contain similar and not so similar elements of literature. After reading these stories I gathered that it would be best to compare and contrast the following elements of literature; writing style, mood, and symbolism. Analyzing these aspects of literature should help me gain a better understanding of both short stories and hopeful other stories that I read in the future. To begin my examination of each story, I thought it would be best to look at each of the authors and their writing style in greater depth first. Writing style is unique to each author and since both stories are written by different authors it should be easiest to find the contrasting element of writing style to begin with. As soon as you glance over both texts the differences in writing style are evident immediately. Art Spiegelman’s “Prisoner on Hell Planet” is portrayed as a cartoon strip, mostly illustrations and very few words. This style of writing is particular to Art Spiegelman and it shows a great deal of how he is able to express his writing style through illustrations. John Cheever, author of “The Swimmer”, has a unique writing style that expresses emotions through extensive symbolism and underlying meanings. Throughout the story the pools, houses and parties are all representative of an underlying problem of Neddy, the main character. Although, these two authors have very different writing styles, similarities can be drawn between them. Both authors express very raw and powerful emotions in their writing styles. These emotions are spawned from intense events and parts of the main character’s lives such as; losing your mom or struggling with alcoholism. Art Spiegelman shows this through his