In Stephen King’s novel, “Different Seasons”, they are a number of stories that emphasize many similarities and differences. In the first story, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, follows the path of Andy Dufresne, a banker, who was unjustly convicted. Andy Dufresne throughout the story learns how to adjust and adapt to the Shawshank prison life and after a number of years he escapes. In the second story, Apt Pupil, follows the path of Todd Bowden who is a typical American sixteen year old and one of the top students of his class until he is corrupted by the dark past of a former Nazi soldier. Andy Dufresne and Todd Bowden have common and different characteristics/traits, themes, and influential factors which shape them throughout …show more content…
Andy gets positively influenced by Red who is one of the inmates at Shawshank. Todd gets negatively influenced by Kurt Dussander the former nazi soldier. Red was a man who could get things at Shawshank for you within reason. When Andy asked him to get him a tiny rock hammer that was the beginning of their mutual friendship. Andy got advice from Red which helped Andy to adapt and adjust in the Shawshank prison life. Andy was also warned by Red about the “sisters” who were the ones who raped people in jail. Red was really close friends with Andy and he always described Andy to be wearing an invisible coat of freedom. Andy got indirect help from Red when he got that hammer from him which led him to escape. Red helped Andy cope with the burden of isolation and imprisonment. Todd however had a different relationship with Mr. Dussander. Todd blackmailed Dussander by threatening him to extort his secret of being a former nazi soldier. Todd and Dussander did not have a mutual relationship. Dussander just did what Todd told him to do so he wouldn’t be reported to the police. Todd’s eagerness to learn about the concentration camps is what led him to become corrupted. Dussander’s stories on the concentration camps had a negatively effect on Todd’s school grades. They also give him nightmares which is the prime reason for his bad grades. Todd’s …show more content…
Dussander’s gruesome stories Todd starts to led in a path of murder. Todd’s first encounter with murder was with a blue jay he saw lying on the corner of the sidewalk where he slowly killed the bluejay with his bike rolling over it back and forth. Then Todd started to progress into bigger things. For example killing winos by luring them to buy beer for him. However Todd pays the ultimate price for his crimes at the end of the story when the cops kill him. Andy was innocent of his charges but was still imprisoned. Even though Todd should have been in prison for killing winos he wasn’t because he got away with murder. At the end of each story each character got what they truly deserved; Andy deserved freedom and Todd deserved to pay the
In the story, “Brownies” by Z.Z. Packer the two main characters create different and clear ideas that shape the story. Notably, the character, Arnetta is very effective and manipulative, much the opposite of the frequently disregarded and ignored, flat character Laurel. These two characters are oppositional of one another but carry the central theme of racism and human cruelty in the story. Resulting in Laurel understanding that retribution has no boundaries and that one person alone cannot change this.
Hinton shows two characters, Dally and Johnny, who are alike in significant ways, but they also have extreme differences. They both have abusive and neglectful parents, and know what it is like to feel unloved. Also, Dally and Johnny both care about each other in similar ways, and want the best for one another. One of the biggest differences Dally and Johnny face is following the law. Dally lives his life looking for trouble and purposely doing illegal things. Where as, Johnny follows rules and is the most law abiding in the gang. Another difference Dally and Johnny have is how they are viewed in death. Dally dies a criminal, with a brutal death from a gun. Contrary to Johnny, who dies as an honored savior and a hero. Two similar characters can have vast
Throughout “A&P” and “Gryphon” the two characters found themselves facing a challenge that they had never had to face before. Reading both of the stories has shown that although different adversities were represented in the books they both had challenges and reactions that were similar to each other as well as very different. Sammy’s was about a store called “A&P” where the manager confronted three girls in bathing suits and Sammy had to stand up for them. Tommy’s was about a unique substitute teacher who he quite enjoyed and his journey with her, and his defending her to the other kids when one of the children gets her fired. Together and separately these two dynamic characters make up these unique stories that ensnared their reader with their thoughts, adversity and heroic actions throughout the story.
Wes (the author) has a family who wants to see him succeed. Although Wes didn’t know his father for long, the two memories he had of him and the endless stories his mother would share with him, helped guide him through the right path. His mother, made one of the biggest effects in Wes’s life when she decided to send him to military story, after seeing he was going down the wrong path. Perhaps, the other Wes’s mother tried her best to make sure he grew up to be a good person, but unfortunately Wes never listen. His brother, Tony was a drug dealer who wish he could go back in time and make the right decisions and he wanted Wes to be different than him. He didn’t want his brother to end up like him and even after he tried everything to keep Wes away from drugs, nothing worked and he gave up. As you can see, both families are very different, Wes (the author) has a family who wants him to have a bright future. Most importantly, a family who responds fast because right after his mother saw him falling down the wrong hill she didn’t hesitate to do something about it. The other Wes isn’t as lucky, as I believe since his mother already had so much pressure over keeping her job and her son Tony being involved in drugs. Same thing with Tony, he was so caught up in his own business that no one payed so much attention to
end. This essay will further show how both stories shared similar endings, while at the same time
It’s the year 2000, and a familiar song is being re-imagined by a French rapper. This is soon interrupted by Tommy DeVito, explaining that the 1975 song “oh what a night” by the Four Seasons, of which he was a member, is, in the year 2000, topping the charts in France for ten straight weeks. The setting then moves to 1950’s New Jersey where a teenage Tommy, looking to start a band with some of his Jersey buddies, discovers an angelic-voiced 15 year old named Frankie Castellucio. Before long, they form an unsuccessful group with the help of another kid from their working-poor New Jersey neighborhood, Nick Massi. After consistently failing to gain traction, the trio decides they need a fourth member, and, after going through several defective ones, enlist another neighborhood friend, who works at the bowling alley, to track one down. This impromptu talent scout, as it turns out, was a young Joe Pesci, far and away the most entertaining character in the musical. Pesci introduces the trio to Bob Gaudio, a talented singer, pianist and songwriter who had, at the age of 15, already written the hit song “short shorts”. Now, 17 and eager to prevent himself from becoming a one hit wonder, Gaudio joins the group. This begins a short period in which the group, which has been regularly changing its name due to its own indecisiveness, has absolutely no decent gigs or interest by record executives. This is until the group finds itself standing outside the electric sign of a club they failed to get hired by, a club by the name of The Four Seasons Suddenly inspired, Castellucio sees this sign and tells his buddies to turn around, at which point he says “oh my god, it’s a sign”. The group now decides to call itself The Four Seasons and Frankie chan...
The comparison and contrast between these two stories is evident. They both developed as characters in similar settings but have different situations and outcomes. They differed in their goals and how they would achieve their goals and their mental health status sets them apart. These stories have contrast and similarities, over all the differences outweigh the comparisons.
In the beginning of both of the pieces of literature, the main character(s) have not had the experience that will shape their values yet. Rather, as time moves forward in the stories, the
The movie Shawshank Redemption depicts the story of Andy Dufresne, who is an innocent man that is sentenced to life in prison. At Shawshank, both Andy and the viewers, witness typical prison subculture.
The themes that are similar in both of the novels are that guilt is detrimental to oneself and that redemption is key to happiness. These points are especially
These books have several differences, but they are also a lot alike. They are about a family and how they go through life, rough times and easy times. Both families have someone they care about die. Both books don’t end as you expected due to unplanned
This book is telling a story about two African American boys (Wes A and Wes P) who have the same name and grew up at same community, but they have a very different life. The author, Wes A, begins his life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and end up as a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, and a white house fellow; The other Wes Moore begins at the same place in Baltimore , but ends up in prison for the rest of his life. Then why do they have the same experience, but still have a totally different life? I will agree here that environment (family environment, school education environment and society environment) is one of the biggest reasons for their different.
Many of Stephen King’s writings explore the theme of evil, and Apt Pupil is no exception. He has incorporated his ideas of malevolence into the characters of Todd Bowden and Kurt Dussander. The beginning of the novella delves into the dark thoughts of a young boy whose encounter with Dussander encourages the growth of his dark side. From stories of Patin to killing animals, the potential for evil can be seen in the eyes of the two and leads them to the ultimate evil: murder.
Despite the authors writing the stories decades apart, there are striking similarities between the protagonists. Defying the societal standard of the time, they rebelled against their marriages and strove for any feeling
William Faulkner’s Light in August (1932) is an investigation of the dilemmas of the modern Man. Faulkner examines the psychological as well as the social motives behind humans’ confused identity and weird behavior through the portrayal of his different characters in a constant search for their true selves. Alwayn Berland in his book Light in August: A Study in Black and White states that Faulkner “dealt directly with the largest human dilemma: what gives value and worth to human life? Why, and for what, do human beings strive?what is the nature of virtue? of evil? What are the limits of human freedom”. This novel, centered basically on the character of Joe Christmas, illustrates best these ideas. Joe Christmas represents the most complex character in this novel; he stands as the vehicle through which Faulkner introduces his views about human psyche and the anxieties of the modern era in the post-bellum southern society. The complexity of this character represents a source of confusion and mystery for critics because of his “confused identity, ambiguous sexuality, volatile temperament” (Walsh, 2), and often violent behavior. There were always conflicting critical views in relation to this character, when some consider him the victim of his traumatic childhood experiences and the Southern society’s cruelty; others perceive that he is the novel’s villain and the embodiment of evil. Relying on the ideas of the German psychiatrist Alice Miller, this paper aims at stressing the importance of childhood memories in defining the mystifying character of Joe Christmas as well as accounting for Faulkner’s use of such character.