Compare And Contrast The Dogs Could Teach Me By Gary Paulsen

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After reading “The Dogs Could Teach Me,” “The Flowers,” and “The Sniper,” It is aware to me that “The Dogs Could Teach Me,” by Gary Paulsen has superior description compared to the other two stories. The character is in agony but doesn’t fail to see the beauty in his surroundings. “The trail crossed the stream directly at the top of a small frozen waterfall with about a twenty-foot drop. Later I saw the beauty of it, the falling lobes of blue ice that had grown as the water froze and refroze, layering itself.” The reader can thoroughly picture what he is feeling and what he is seeing. On the contrary, “The Flowers,” by Alice Walker, has the point of view of a little girl’s innocent mind. The main character, Myop is distracted and does not …show more content…

In the other two stories, you can only assume what the characters are feeling.
“He pulled them up to me, concern in his eyes and making a soft whine, and I reached into his ruff and pulled his head down and hugged him and was never so happy to see anybody probably in my life. The I felt something and looked down to see one of the other dogs-named Duberry-licking the wound in my leg.” Here you can see the dogs looking at the character and feel what he is feeling. This passage does not just describe the surface description, but goes more in depth to the things unseen by the audience.
“Before twelve o’clock, her arms laden with sprigs of her findings, she was a mile or more from home. She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts. It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp. The silence close and deep.” Here you can tell that Myop is not happy, but you cannot tell what ‘unpleasant’ emotion she is feeling. She could be sad, scared, on edge, lonely or any other negative description of emotion. Though in Gary Paulsen’s story, you can really tell that the character is relieved to see the dogs. He does say that he is “happy,” but by the way he talks about the dogs and how he feels to be injured you can be positive that he is

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