The Landlady Versus the Broken Chain Essay

Danielle Procope #310

"The Landlady" versus "The Broken Chain" essay

A good plot in a story is something that will keep you interested and make you want to read more of it. In "The Broken Chain", by Gary Soto, the plot was about a boy who was having problems preparing for his first date. In "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl, the plot was about a murder mystery. Overall "The Landlady" had more external conflicts and suspense.

In the Landlady there were a lot more external conflicts. In "The Broken Chain" there is none because Alfonzo, the main character, is worrying about things internal the entire time. His internal problems were internal problems, such as his looks and what the girl would think of him. In "The Landlady" all of the problems with the man, Billy, are external. Some of his external problems is that he is about to be murdered by the woman! I thought that the story would be more relevant to me if the problems were external. I also thought that a murder mystery was a lot more interesting.

"The Landlady" had tons of suspense in it. In the beginning it makes you want to continue reading, because it gives you the feeling that Billy is going to run into an unusual situation. When he goes to the boarding house and the old woman acts so oddly it is even more suspicious. She acts suspicious by using his name in past tense, and looking him over like she is preparing him for something. The story also leaves a lot of clues about what will probably happen to Billy towards the end. Some of the clues were that she was acting a little weird around him. Even when the story was over it left me with a lot of questions. "The Landlady" really makes you think about what happens at the end. In "The Broken Chain" it is straight forward with what will happen to Alfonzo. Even thought I didn't have an eerie feeling when I finished the story, I didn't have the feeling like it was a profound story either. It had a simple plot and didn't need any suspense because it was obvious what was going to come next.

In conclusion, "The Landlady" has a better plot than "The Broken Chain" because "The Landlady" has a lot more suspense, and a more interesting story line. "The Landlady" is a story that I'll remember