Dossier Littérature Anglaise

DOSSIER LITTÉRATURE ANGLAISE

“ The Odd One Out ”

-“ Travels with Charley: In Search of America”, John Steinbeck, 1962

-“ Pygmalion ”, Act II part one , George Bernard Shaw, 1912

- Unnamed Photography, ”Gustavo Lacerda Albino Project” , 2009

Introduction

To make this paper, I decided to focus on two texts, the first one is an excerpt from a travelogue by the american writer John Steinbeck, title “Travels with Charley” published in 1962 and the second one is also an excerpt from “Pygmalion”, a play published by the Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics George Bernard Shaw.

I will try to show what are the elements that makes us think the main characters is the Odd one out, the outsider and also how, in spite of his condition, he is trying to triumph.

I - Part I title

Travel With Carley depicts a road trip Steinbeck took in 1960 around the United States, accompanied by his French dog named Charley. Steinbeck writes that he was moved by a desire to see his country from a personal perspective. He writes about the many questions that came to his mind when he was travelling, the main of which being: "What are Americans like today?" However, he ended up feeling concerned about much of the "new America" he witnessed. From my point of view, John Steinbeck is the Odd one out, he doesn’t understand America, he’s trying to rediscover from another point of view, but he still can not understand he’s country, he’s like a stranger. He is shown as an outsiders of the society he does not include some of the ideologies of his country like for exemple racist people, capitalism, overconsumption .

We found this in Pygmallion too, Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after a Greek mythological character. It was first presented on stage in 1912.

Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech.

Eliza is also the odd one out Her,accent excludes her indirectly from a part of the society and more exactly from the English aristocracy, her accent keep her far of her dream, and of what she desire.

The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary on women's independence.

Part II Title

But in spite of their vision and point of view the two caracters want to change of their initial situation to fight against their condition in pygmallion for exemple , but also to be more educated on the world which surrounds him like in Steinbeck novel . George Bernard Shaw was an ardent socialist. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class.

On their own ways the both

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