Life in the 20th century as sh
Life in the 20th century as shLife in the twentieth century is different through each decade but also much different than life in a century before. The short story �Magic�, written by Katherine Anne Porter in 1930, shows how people think they have choices in life but their future is actually already planned out for them. Ernest Hemingway�s short story �A Clean, Well-Lighted Place� which was written in 1933 shows how people feel about the well being of others and others feelings. �The Storm�, written by Kate Chopin in 1898 is an example of how views of marriage have changed. Although this wasn�t written in the twentieth century it was written right before the beginning and still paints a picture of how life is now going into the twenty-first century.
In the story �Magic� a young prostitute named Ninette is treated very badly in the house she lives in. This is proven by the quote �They quarreled, the madam cheated her on her checks: you know, the girl got a check, a brass one, every time, and at the week�s end she gave those back to the madam, yes, that was the way, and got her percentage, a very small little of her earnings: it is a business, you see, like any other- and the madam used to pretend the girl had given back only so many checks, you see, and really she had given many more, but after they were out of her hands, what could she do?� (Page 121) This quote shows how the woman of the house cheated Ninette out of her money. These next two quotes tell how Ninette was physically abused. �So she would say, I will get out of this place, and curse and cry. Then the madam would hit her over the head.� (Page 121-122) �The girl said, Keep you hands off or I�ll brain you: and at that the madam took hold of her shoulders, and began to lift her knee and kick this girl most terribly in the stomach, and even in her most secret place, Madame Blanchard, and then she beat her in the face with a bottle, and the girl fell back again into her room where I was making clean.� (Page 122) Ninette was very popular with the men that came to the house and was very important to the madam but was still abused and treated very badly. Ninette left and returned seven days later which the madam thought was because of a charm from New Orleans but was really because that house was the only thing Ninette knew. Even though Ninette thought she could leave and find a better job that house was the only choice she had. In those times if you were a prostitute that was the only thing you could be, you had no other choices. In the twentieth century we think that we...
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