Compare and contrast and discuss similarities and differences of the Essay

Compare and contrast and discuss similarities and differences of the setting , narrative strategies (Point of View ,Characteriza - Essay Example Circumstantial marriages and love affairs are the most affected kind of affairs around the globe and always end up in painful circumstances as they occur due to the pre-meditated intensions that certain people involved harbors from the beginning usually without the knowledge of the other innocent parties. Once these plans are achieved, the affairs always have a painful ending as the two part ways. Most love affairs today are of such kind as is what is often narrated in most of the love novel commonly referred to as the romantic novels. The pledge novel by Friedrich Durrenmatt and Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles are among the many romantic stories that have been written by various authors to air out what goes on in the world of romance. The two stories involve the circumstances surrounding the two men and women and the feelings they bear as the aftermath of their affair. Though the two stories have different settings, they carry almost the same message to the reader. The pledge novel by Friedrich Durrenmatt is a narration of a love story between two German citizens. The pledge has its setting in a small ton in Switzerland where the couple lives and spends the rest of their lives. The novel narrates the story of a police officer, Matthai, who falls in love with and marries a German lady and a house keeper whose daughter, Annemarie, he uses as a spy to trace the disappearance of a serial killer. On the other hand, the sheltering sky has a double setting with one instance in Africa and another in New York, America. The two novels narrate the stories of two set of couples trying to solve their problems in different ways. The setting of these two novels on the first instance suggests the difficulties that underlie the whole process of conflict resolution in each case. While north Africa where the couples in Bowles story moves to settle their disputes is a dry and does not show signs of live, the pledge has its setting in a small town in Switzerland where life is at its full as evidenced by the presence of enough wealth circulating within the city as Matthai has enough money to purchase a petrol station while in search of a murderer who has been noted to be a serial killer in the region. â€Å"Immediately when you arrive in Sahara, for the first or the tenth time, you notice the stillness†¦ Once he has been under the spell of the vast luminous, silent country, no other place is quite strong enough for him; no other surroundings can provide the supremely satisfying sensation of existing in the midst of something that is absolute. He will go back, whatever the cost in time or money, for the absolute has no price.† (Bowles 240) We can argue that the pledge is a narration of a love affair which is circumstantial as Agee terms it. While Matthai knows very well what he wants in his got lady and daughter, the two remains in total darkness and when his plans fails to work out as he aspires, the two parts ways without the knowledge of the woman . On the other hand, the sheltering sky narrates the story of a real or an almost real love affair a direct contrast of the other affair. These two novels therefore give the sharp contrast in the two contradicting affairs giving an explicit and tacit controversy which goes on in a life shared between two people. It reveals that in most marriages where we see the couples laugh from outward perspective, the inner