Lamp at Noon and Handful of Dates Comparison

The Lamp at Noon by, Sinclair Ross, and Handful of Dates, by Tayeb Salih, are about a man who lead their loves one into believing in them. Both providers create an image of them being trustworthy and honest which is established as false at the end of the stories. Causing both of the family members into being distant and feeling dishearten by them.

In Lamp at Noon, Ellen feels she was brought up in a different way. Compared to the lifestyle she’s in after getting married to Paul. In the line, "the spent quietness in her voice (3)," Ellen shows how sick she was of Paul's attitude and the tedious lifestyle of the farm. Social circumstances of poor education prevented the farmers to know better. The clueless farmers planted wheat year after year and gave no time for the soil's nutrients to recover, resulting in the barren land that became the source of Paul and Ellen's troubles. Prior to their marriage Paul doesn’t let Ellen know about his poor lifestyle. Leading Ellen into believing she won’t lack happiness after. Later, it is proven as being wrong, after having to deal with a non-luxurious lifestyle. “You’re a farmer’s wife now, it doesn’t matter what you used to be or how you were brought up. You get enough to eat and wear. Just now that’s all I can do. I’m not to blame that we’ve been dried out five years.”(67) Without proper food to provide energy for the couple, Ellen could not cheer herself up to look on the bright side of things. This prevented her from being understanding and looking at the situation from Paul's point of view. Without energy, she did not have the courage to face Paul and his actions, which led to her insanity towards the end of the story, which could've been easily prevented if only conditions were better back then. When compared to Handful of Dates, the young boy looks up to his grandfather as being god. The boy thinks of his grandfather as being pure and compares him to river. He wanted to be just like him when he grew up. He’s influenced into believing him as being the owner of the date palms, since Masood is claimed to be in debt to him. “I asked my grandfather why Masood sold his land. “Women,” and from the way my grandfather pronounced the word, I felt that “women” was something terrible. (2) The young is shown his grandfather’s impurity leading him to possessing a different attitude towards him. Therefore, both providers lack in trust by expressing themselves as being dishonest through their actions.

In addition, another commonality between the short stories is the fake illusion of an identity the providers build for themselves is revealed. Allowing their loved one into seeing their true colors. “She looked forward to no future. She had no faith or dream with which to make the dust and poverty less real.”(69) This quote proves how Ellen is placed in a scenario which seemed unreal to her prior to their marriage. After, living with her husband, the blind fold of love is removed, making her realize what she’s missing out on. If social circumstances were better back then, Ellen and Paul would not have had to endure all the suffering of malnutrition and pain. When compared to the other story, the little boy is tricked into believing his grandpa is genuine. After seeing the deception within him, the young boy feels for Masood who is deprived of his property and wealth. “For some unknown reason, I experienced a sharp sensation of pain in my chest.”(128) This quote shows how the boy realized nature of his grandpa which lead him to feel sympathy towards Masood. The little boy ran off because he had a feeling of hatred towards his grandfather. He was mad at the way he treated Masood. Technically, knowing that he was stealing from him.

In essence, both stories consists of characters who are gullable, noticing their dearly ones negative nature as the story progresses. The protagonist realize where they went wrong after dealing with the consequence.