There are personal and societal conflicts in both of these stories. discuss the personal and/or societal conflicts in the texts

There are personal and societal conflicts in both of these stories. Discuss the personal and/or societal conflicts in the texts

Story conflicts Introduction Our life has two sides. One, which we show to our society and other one, is how actually we are. These two phases contradict with each other. Many times it happens that we do not show society how actually we are. There are many reasons for that like lack of confidence, shyness, fear, and inferiority complex etc…Some times it happens that people around us do not like what we do or how we are, at that time we pretend to be some one, who does what they appreciate. In doing so, we feel conflict with our self. This paper shows personal and social conflicts with the help of two stories.
Analysis
The first story is about a fat girl. It starts when she is nine years old. Her mother controls her diet, But she eat all what she want secretly. As a result, she becomes fat, and no body knows why. This shows her concern about society, but she does not want to compromise with her desires. Listening her mother and eating little in public shows her concern about what people think of her. She hates seeing her relatives’ reaction when they talk to her. She wishes to be liked by everyone. But usually, when she is alone, desire to eat takes her over and she eat the things which results in increase in fat.
“ Eating lightly in public had become as habitual as good manner”.
And that is why she chooses to stay with the lie that she diets, and continues eating little in public. She like herself when nobody sees her, and can stay alone forever.
At her school she meets a girl, who helps her to reduce her weight. After tremendous struggle with her hunger and dieting, she achieves thin body. Now everyone likes her and she get married. When she becomes pregnant, her hunger takes over, and she starts eating secretly again. After child’s birth also she continues eating lot and again become fat as before. This proves that a person may change their thinking for little time, but soon comes back to original life. She maintained her dieting for some years but soon came back to the life of lie, showing one thing and doing something else. She is self centered woman. She never felt any responsibility towards her parents, and now also she is not listening to her husband, who loves her a lot. She does not like to stay with people who interrupt her in doing what she wants, whoever they are.
Other story is about a soldier, who returns home years after the war over. His situation is totally different from girl in previous story. After returning back, he compares every situation at hometown with that before going for war. The entire Situation is same except now he dislike many things amongst them. Previously he used to lie about his life at war. He used to attribute himself to the things other had gone through. Previously he used to say or do any thing to please girls, but now he thinks it is not worth saying lie anymore. He feels that he lost every thing, and him self. And this is because of lies he said to everyone.
“ Krebs acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration, and when he occasionally met another man who had really been a soldier and the talked a few minutes in the dressing room at a dance he fell into the easy pose of the old soldier among other soldiers: that he had been badly, sickeningly frightened all the time. In this way he lost everything.”
Now he wants simple and straightforward life without any type of complications. Now he wants truth in his life. He wish to get rid of the entire situation created because his untruth and exaggeration about his life and war. Now he does not want any consequences. He believes that things can get good again if he start things what are worth doing. His parents want him to set his aim and settle down to work. His sister wants him to participate in her daily activities. Unlike previous, now he wants to satisfy his parent’s and sister’s expectation and become good son and brother.
Conclusion
These two stories represent two different styles of living. One, which satisfies society, and other, is for oneself. Life of girl is totally based on false impression. She want herself to be liked but without doing any thing. She does not feel her responsibility toward anyone in the society.
“ This room will be hers soon. She considers possibility of all the rooms and lawn, where she can do whatever she wishes”
She likes to live in her own way and her own kingdom, far from world, where no one can oppose her doing whatever she wishes. In contrast, boy wishes to live in whole truth. He cares for his family and now wants to satisfy family’s demands on the basis of truth. He understands his position in society and now wants to become part of society and fulfill his responsibilities.