(A) Choose a theme from one of the etxts on your comparative course
and describe how this theme is developed

(B) Show how a theme from the other texts on your comparative 
course were either similar or different from the theme you chose in (A)

(A) The text which I have studied as part of my comparison course is 'On The Waterfront' directed by Elia Kazan. A theme which was developed in this film is the effect that violence has on society and on individuals within that society. This theme is introduced immediately in the film with the murder of Joey Doyle. In thsi key scene, Terry Molloy has to lure a a young dockworker called Joey Doyle out of his apartment. Joey is going to testify in the Waterfront Crime Commision against the gangsters who control the docks. Terry sees Joey's murder as he is hurled to his death. He is shocked. He believed the racketeers would only threaten the man. The thugs' make a joke about the 'squealer' who had threatened to 'sing' to the Crime Commision and break the waterfront's unspoken code of 'Deaf and Dumb' or 'D and D'.
                We recognise that violent death is the consequence of breaking this code. Even at this early stage we can see how violence has a serious impact on the lives of everyone in that society. As the theme develops we see that there are those who wish to fight this violence in society. In a key scene Fr Barry holds a meeting in his church for those wishing to stand up to the mob and break the code of 'D and D'. The meeting is broken up by rocks shattering the church windows. During it, Terry rescues Edie, Joey's sister. Edie can see that there is more to Terry than meets the eye. Consequently, she changes his views; 'Shouldn't everyone care for everybody else?' Edie has faith in Terry and he is influenced by her and begins to feel guilty, frustrated and responsible for the murder. He starts slowly to turn against violence and the mob. 
Terry is furthur turned away from violence by a key moment which happens on the docks the next day. Kayo Dugan is also rumoured to be willing to talk to the Crime Commision. But he is deliberatley killed while working the hold of a ship. Fr Barry comes to give the last rites and then delivers what is known as 'The Sermon On The Docks'. He speaks out against the code of silence. He is jeered and people throw things at him but Terry protects him. Terry's allegance and loyalty is being gradually worn away from the violence of the racketeers because of the integrity and bravery of Fr Barry. We see how people's lives are affected whether they support of oppose the violence in society, but no-one can escape it.
Johnny Friendly is now worried that Terry will 'squeal' and in a key scene he sends his brother Charley to take to him. In what is known as the taxicab scene, Charley tries to ensure that Terry won't talk. Terry is offered an easy, well-paid job, but he no longer wants to stay within the mob. Shortley afterwards Charley is brutally murdered. Terry is convined by Fr Barry not to use violence like the mob does. Instead, Fr Barry convinces him to use truth; 'You want to hurt Johnny Friendly? well don't fight him like a hoodlum down there in the jungle because that's what he wants...You fight him with the truth as you know the truth.' 
His testimony is sufficient to make Johnny Friendly lose the support of the powerful people protecting him. In a dramatic climax, Terry has faced up to the men of violence.
In the final scenes of the film, the men of violence are overcome and there is a change in society. There is a dramtic resolution to the theme o the effects of violence on the individual and on society.
In this film an individual is moved to resist the violence in the world around him. He takes on the forces of evil and succeeds in destroying them and therefore makes his society a better place

(B) In the other texts on my course the theme of the effects of violence on society and the individual are also developed. This is evident in the novel Lies Of Silence by Brian Moore and the play The Plough and the Stars by Sean O' Casey.

In Brian Moore's Lies Of Silence, violence is also part of the everyday world and this violence is evident immediately, just like in On The Waterfront. The need for 'special security' for a meeting of the Orange Order is mentioned in the opening pages of the book. The key moment is when the IRA break into his house that night and hold himself and his wife captive. They are forced to co-operate. The IRA threaten them in a very similar way to the way people are threatened in On The Waterfront. Just like the people in On The Waterfront, Dillon and his wife, Moira, are expected to stay 'dumb and deaf'. Moira accuses the IRA of being racketeers;

There isn't a building site in this city or a pub that you or the UDA don;t hold up for protecting money

This is identical to what the mob does in On the Waterfront. When Dillon defies the IRA and rings the police with information about the bomb in his car, he is trying to prevent the terrible violence from occuring. In this text the effect of violence on the individual and society is immediatley evident.

In Sean O' Casey's The Plough and the Stars, the effects of violence on society are not evident immediatley as in On The Waterfront or Lies Of Silence. In the opening act of the play, we meet the main characters and the issue of violence is introduced through the arguments and discussions that go on between these characters. This play is set in Dublin in 1916. At the time Ireland was still ruled directly from England. Many nationalists in Ireland did not believe that this was right and some were prepared to use physical force to oppose the English rule. This kind of nationalism was represented by the Irish Citizen Army.
          At the very beginning of the play, we hear all about a "Great Demonstration an' tourchlight procession around places in th' city sacred to th' memory of Irish Patriots, to be concluded be a meetin' at which will be taken an oath of fealty to the Irish Republic." This is a rally for all those opposed to British Rule. However, this meeting causes huge tension between Jack and Nora Clitheroe. Jack is called to the meeting by Captain Brennan and Nora fears the damage such violence will bring to her life. Nora is like Joey's sister Edie in On The Waterfront. They both want the violence to stop. But Nora is far more innocent than Edie. They cannot stop the violence from affecting their lives.