Comparison/Contrast Essay
The Lovely Bones and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time were both unique literary works. Alice Sebold and Mark Haddon are both very talented writers. Although they are both talented, their work differs in many ways. They differ in the portrayal of their subject matters, their writing styles and techniques, and whether or not the techniques were helpful toward each individual work.
In The Lovely Bones, Sebold portrayed the subject matter lightly. It was not gory and gruesome, but it still depicted the repulsiveness and how horrifying it was. However, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Haddon’s portrayal of the subject matter was quite complex. As a result, it could lead readers to skip areas of the novel because they do not understand what is trying to be articulated. In contrast, Sebold’s portrayal allows the reader to better understand the story by letting them connect with the text.
For the most part, both authors’ writing styles and techniques were similar. Both used a learned diction, but Haddon’s was simple while Sebold’s was abstract. Neither of them, technically, used different perspectives, but Sebold used her main character to give some insight to their thoughts and feelings. The time sequence changes used in both novels were confusing. Haddon’s was confusing due to the unique perspective in which it was written, but Sebold’s was due to the abrupt, frequent flashbacks.
Haddon’s techniques were original, but they did not help understand all of the themes of his novel. The confusing time sequence changes helped understand the theme of “The Disorder of Life”, but not “The Struggle of Independence”. On the other hand, Sebold’s techniques helped in all of themes. The method in which Sebold revealed the different perspectives helped in the following themes: “Grief”, by helping understanding the characters better, “Love and Acceptance”, by showing how each of the Salmon’s moved away from