Compare And Contrast Our Secret And The Judge's Wife

The theme “Unexpected Love”, love that is unanticipated by those in it, it catches them at the most of abrupt times of their life. This type of love is represented in “Our Secret”, and “ The Judge’s Wife” , two short stories written by the same author, Isabel Allende. The stories greatly differ from each other, but also have strong similarities. To begin with, in the story “The Judge’s Wife”, it talks about an individual, Nicolas Vidal, a rebel of his time, whom everyone stayed away from due to fear that he would hurt them, he was notorious and even the town officials couldn’t get ahold of controlling him. Nicolas was a cold hearted man, who wouldn’t even save his own mother to protect his pride. Always had his guard up when it came …show more content…
They met when they were both wandering throughout their town. Both the Ana and the man appeared to be very venturesome, the kind of individuals who like to saunter for and adventure or to create memories. They also both seemed to be lonely, forsaken. As if they were looking for something but just didn’t have the ability to find it. When they eventually found each other, they spent the whole day together, strolling around, simply enjoying each other’s presence. At first it didn’t seem to be love, it was more like a companion to help avoid those simple feelings of loneliness. Eventually, they ended up in Ana’s home, a simple but yet cozy small place. They made love to each other during that time, but it wasn’t a “strings attached” type of connection like the one they had expected on having. The man throughout the encounter kept having flashbacks, and kept picturing in his mind the time when he was tortured. He wanted to let it all go, to just simply enjoy the company of his companion, but the memories of his torture kept haunting him back. Ana later reveals that she is aware and is acquainted to what he is going through. “ Her hair was half covering her face when she held out her hands to him. White scars circled her wrists, too. For a timeless instant he stared at them, unmoving, until he understood everything…” (pg 169) …show more content…
Beginning with the center of both stories, the fact that both couples have an unexpected encounter and end up making love with each other. It’s something that was not foreseen in either of the stories. The fact that both stories surround the encounter goes to show that love is unexpected, its not anticipated and it can simply happen to any individual at any time given of their life, giving no matter to who they are or how old they are. Furthermore, the fact that both stories main characters are couples of a man and a woman, therefore implying more to the stereotype of the ordinary couple which consists of a man and a woman. Also, another strong similarity would apply to the males of the stories. Both Nicolas and the man in the story “Our Secret”, seemed to have issues or had some type of trauma in their life that had influenced them greatly. Beginning with Nicolas, he was the son of a prostitute, and didn’t have a father figure in his life. He was looked down upon by other people, for not being from an ordinary family background. Therefore, leading him to becomes the leader of the town’s most dangerous gang. Being the dangerous and notorious person that he portrayed to be , he wasn’t a person that was used to having feelings, especially when he didn’t even have the courage to give up his life and pride for his own mother, but yet he