I have looked at two short stories ‘Desiree’s Baby’ by Kate Chopin and ‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl and am going to be comparing the writers of the stories, the plots, the similarities and the differences. I will then conclude which ending has the most impact and why. Kate Chopin is the author of ‘Desiree’s Baby’. She was born in the 19th century. Her mom was French and her father was an Irish immigrant. She began writing in 1883, when she began writhing it was the time of the slave trade.
She was very interested in the relationship between the white plantation owners and the black slaves that worked for them. She wrote short stories which concentrated on marginalised groups of people. On the other hand Roald Dahl was born in 1916. His mom and dad were Norwegian. His first book was published in 1943. He concentrates more on entertainment in his stories but he concentrates on how adults are towards children as well. Roald Dahl died in 1990; he had written many books for children and adults including short stories.
At the start of ‘Desiree’s Baby’ it goes from the past to the present so you can get to know the background of the characters and you can get to know what has happened in the past. Also at the start of ‘Desiree’s baby’ the tone is happy and pleasant but when Madame Valmonde reaches the house L’Abri the tone changes to sad dismal and quite funeral like. Kate Chopin uses similes to create the dismal, sad and funeral like impression. For example ‘The roof came down steep and black like a cowl’ and ‘reaching out, thick leaved and shadowed’.