Review and comparison of two short stories “Salem” and “I am the murderer of your son” with respect to their critical view towards war

Hasan Zade Niri, M.H.; Eslami, A.

Review and comparison of two short stories “Salem” and “I am the murderer of your son” with respect to their critical view towards war

Authors

M.H. Hasan Zade Niri

A. Eslami

Abstract

This is a review and a comparison of two short stories, Salem by Robert Olen Butler and I am the murderer of your son by Ahmad Dehghan. Both stories share the same critical view towards war. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast these short stories to find their similarities and differences. Here it has been shown that both stories take a critical view of war and both use common elements such as “dutiful soldier”, “obedience to superiors”, “inevitable but unfair killing”, “being doubtful” and “the feeling of shame”. Altogether, both stories have a common theme that the conditions created by war force people to exhibit violence and cruel behaviors. Also, it has been shown that the differences and similarities between these two stories such as the difference time periods chosen by the writer and strong and deep in characterization.

Keywords

short story

war

comparative literature

Salem

I am the murderer of your son