Story Of Lucy Gault And Juno Comparison

The narratives of both Jason Reitman’s ‘Juno’ and William Trevor’s ‘The Story of Lucy Gault’, are substantially concerned with the struggles of each of the female protagonists. Juno finds herself pregnant age 16, and has to cope with the social, emotional, and physical consequences. Lucy Gault is separated from her parents at age 8, and will never again see her mother and will have to wait for thirty years to be reunited with her father. All of this is heightened by the challenge of living in a community in which she is ostracised. Lucy Gault also lives in a time where the campaign for equality of the sexes is non-existent and a woman’s place is in the home. On the other hand Juno, lives in 2006 where woman’s rights have had substantial progress …show more content…
Lucy Gault’s wrongdoing confers a certain notoriety upon her. Resultantly she is exiled from the school community as nobody wants to play with her. “They stared at her for what she’d done …in the play-yard, Edie Hosford still didn’t want to come near her”. Lucy also becomes ostracised from the local community as she is not part of the easy-going banter and spontaneous warmth that everybody else is. Lucy’s acute sense of guilt convinces her that neither Aloysius Sullivan, the family lawyer, nor Mrs. McBride, the local shopkeeper, like her. Likewise, Juno MacGuff is the epitome of social exclusion. When she goes to buy her pregnancy test, she is greeted with the anti-thesis of sympathy. The shopkeeper cruelly treats her with contempt and inevitably a rancorous exchange between them occurs. Juno, becomes an item of intrigue amongst her peers. She is an outsider who is constantly stared at and an item of fascination towards the latter stages of her pregnancy. A further example of exclusion comes from the school secretary who, observing Juno’s pregnancy, gives a withering look of disapproval. Both women are victims of isolation and …show more content…
Both however offer the prospect of happiness. Lucy Gault and Ralph fall madly in love and it offers a glimmer of hope. However Lucy’s overwhelming sense of guilt and her refusal to move on until granted forgiveness poses a significant problem. Ralph proposes to her but Lucy rejects it saying “I am not somebody to love”. This stubbornness and refusal to be happy flies in the face of social expectation. This leaves both Henry and Bridget, and Canon Crosbie bitterly disappointed and dumbfounded as to what action to take. In contrast with this, the relationship between Juno and Paulie Bleeker survives the dangerous circumstances and problems of immaturity faced. When Juno confronts him about the pregnancy he offers no support, and is totally bamboozled. This profoundly ruptures their relationship but over time due to Juno’s persistence to make it work, their love for each other shines through. In contrast with society wanting Lucy to be in a relationship with Ralph, Paulie’s mother disapproves of Juno, citing that she is