Mary Hood: Compare and Contrast

In the two short stories by Mary Hood, “Lonesome Road Blues” and “Inexorable Progress”, the main characters endure a great deal of suffering. The unnamed widow in “Lonesome Road Blues” tries to get over the death of her husband and the loneliness that followed by trying to seduce a man with the hopes that he may take the place of her late husband. She has had time to heal and is ready to get on with her life and even though in the end she doesn’t get what she set out to accomplish, she has made great steps to reinserting herself back into society and getting her life back on track. On the other hand, Angelina in “Inexorable Progress” has suffered a great deal through the loss of her mother, stillborn son, and her dog. She has endured a great deal more suffering than the woman in “Lonesome Road Blues” and her inability to deal with these hardships have an even more tragic impact on her life. The two of these women are similar in that they both have endured gre...