Comparing and Contrasting Essay In the two short stories “The Finish of Patsy Barnes” and “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh”, two boys overcome obstacles such as poverty and fighting in a war. Patsy is a young boy who moved to the north for his mother to seek a job that pays better. Patsy is extremely truant and his mother is disappointed in him for that. Instead of school Patsy would go to the stables, but when his mother became sick Patsy matured. He looked everywhere for a job and just as he was about to lose hope; a man was in need of a jockey. Obviously, Patsy took the offer and when he looked into the horse’s eyes he knew this was the horse that killed his father. Patsy thought that if rode the horse that took his father gave his mother back.
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, is an incredulous story with no happy ending, where no one attains what they were attempting to achieve in the end. The story begins with a flat tone, but eventually grows to be suspenseful .[It] is set in a world of comparative [regularity], which is not to say it is any less dominated by evil ,any more controlled by rationality , logic or a divine purpose, than that of its predecessors.”(McCarthy) John and Rawlins are seventeen year olds, who have left their hometown to seek a better life,but what John doesn't know is that things will only turn for the worse. Both individuals come across a boy named Blevins ,who will be a very important character throughout the novel. As the story progresses, John will be faced with many poisonous encounters . John will face evil and evil will face him in the wake of the resurfacing of the heinous crimes that Blevins has committed, which leads them to being arrested and tortured atrociously. From having everything he will go to having nothing. Nothing.. This was
Further, throughout the book, Sadie and Bessie continuously reminds the reader of the strong influence family life had on their entire lives. Their father and mother were college educated and their father was the first black Episcopal priest and vice principal at St. Augustine Co...
The narrator reflects,”I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two things life and death,”(Hurst 3).This quote showed that at first the narrator thought pride was good but later he became self centered and ashamed of his disabled brother and pushed him far beyond his limit.The short story called The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is a drama where the narrator, or older brother, wishes his younger brother wasn’t disabled. Because he is so fueled by pride, the older brother ends up pushing his brother beyond his capabilities to his death. In this story, we will learn how the narrator’s pride led to the tragic death of Doodle.
Although both Twain and Douglass both lived in the south, Douglass was a slave and, therefore, faced greater hardships than did Twain. While Twain was preoccupied about becoming steamboat captain, Douglass was experiencing more dire troubles such as having “no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing on but a coarse tow linen shirt, reaching only to my knees” (Douglass). As a free, white male, Twain’s biggest worry was not accomplishing his goal of becoming a steamboat pilot (Twain). Another difference is the use of joyful and troubling memories. While Twain ends his narrative in despair because he “somehow… could not manage…” to become a steamboat pilot, Douglass ends his narrative in the hopeful and thankful tone of a freed slave. Douglass proclaims “this good spirit was from God, and to him I offer thanksgiving and praise”(Douglass). Finally, another narrative technique that differs Twain from Douglass is that Twain speaks for all of the boys of his town while Douglass only recounts his own experiences. According to Twain, “when I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboatman.”(Twain). Douglass, although alluding to other slaves, does not depict their desires nor does he show a kinship with them. Douglass’
When comparing the themes of each story, surprising similarities arise. First, both are developed around the lives of children. In “The Destructors” a group of boys called the Wormsley Gang have the same view of the world around them. They have grown up together and share stories about the bombs that destroyed their town. They also challenge each other to accomplish various tasks. The house that the boys ultimately destroy represents the greediness of Mr. Thomas, an architect who owns the tattered home. The Wormsley Gang called him ‘Old Misery’. In the Rocking Horse Winner”, the story’s plot is thickend by a a young boys obsessive desire to “become lucky”. This young boy, Paul, believes that his house is continually whispering, “…there must be more money…there must be more money”. Paul is able to relate the self-proclaimed dissatificatoin of his mothers life with the odd mood of his house. Paul knows that although his mother appears to have everything together on the outside, she does not love him on the inside. Paul believes that he can please his mother if he is able to find a way to give her more money. In both stories, the houses were very symbolic.
Mom’s words and doctor’s advice did not become a way to obstruct the narrator and his pride. Paying no attention to Mom and the doctor’s warning, the narrator took his crippled brother out and trained him anyways regardless of Doodle’s physical restraints, because he is embarrassed. “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 204).” Even worse, the narrator knew it was his pride that made him to force Doodle into cruel training, “I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother (Hurst 206).” In addition, due to his embarrassment, the
The Mother is among a family of four who lives on a small farm and takes immense pride in what interests her, however her passion does not particularly lie in her two children; James and David; nor in her husband and their interests; but instead lies within her chickens. Though chickens bring the most joy to the Mother, they are not the sole animals that live on the farm. The animal that draws the most interest from the father, James and David is their horse, Scott. At a young age, Scott was used as a working mule for the family and grew up alongside the Father and two Sons. To the father, Scott was like one of his own sons, and to James and David, Scott was like their brother; but according to the Mother, “He’s been worthless these last few years”(Macleod, 267). Ever since Scott was young, he was a burden on the Mother’s lifestyle; she never took a liking to the horse even when he served as a source of profit for the family. The Mother had never appreciated the sentimental value that Scott possessed because he had never been a particular interest to her. Once Scott had aged and was no longer able...
This story speaks of a married woman who fell in love with a man who was not her husband. She bore this man a child and realized that she could not live without him. In the event, she decides to leave her husband to be with the child’s father. However, there is only one problem and that is that she has two other children by her husband. She has a daughter who is 9 years old and is very mature for her age, and a darling son who is 5 years old. As she leaves to restart her life again with this other man, the 5 year old son is left behind to stay with his dad, and the little girl is tragically killed by a pack of wolves. The little boy is devastated by his mom’s decision to leave him behind. He is constantly haunted by dreams and images that come to his mind surrounding his mother’s...
The story of “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, tells about a boy and his younger brother playing and their childhood. Until his younger brother, Doodle, is found dead. It is, the narrator’s fault. William Armstrong, Doodle’s real name, was not believed to live a long life, he was not as said in the story “all there” (Hurst, Pg 163). The older brother, the narrator always pushed him to his limits and wanted him to be more. Doodle was like a fragile but adventurous kind of kid. After the death of the scarlet ibis, Doodle changes.
A teenager named Grace MacLean loves riding horses; it is her main passion in life. She is out one early morning in the wintertime riding with her best friend Judith and their two horses Pilgrim and Gulliver. They begin to go up a slope and realize that it is icy. The horses cannot continue to go up the icy slope and they fall backwards and land on a road down below. They see a truck coming, but unfortunately the truck cannot see them and it collides with the horses and girls. Judith and Gulliver are killed, while Grace and Pilgrim are both severely injured. Grace’s right leg must be partially amputated. She has become very bitter and withdrawn since the accident. Pilgrim has been majorly traumatized by the event and is basically uncontrollable at this point. It has even been suggested to Grace that Pilgrim might have to be put down because he is so wildly uncontrollable. Grace’s mother, Annie, is a very strong-minded magazine editor. She is strongly dedicated to her job. A while later, Annie visits Pilgrim, who seems to make Annie believe that he, can be saved. Annie decides that she can't kill the horse, but help it heal. Doing so may also help heal her daughter. Grace is struggling through ridicule from some of the people at her school. She now has a prosthetic l...
The novel “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn”, by Mark Twain is an exciting book that describes the story of a young boy and his friend Jim. Huckleberry Finn, who is the protagonist in this tale, is a young boy who enjoys his immature life to the fullest. Playing pranks, going on adventures and running away from society are part of his daily thrill. At first sight it might seem that Huckleberry Finn might be an uneducated boy who has no interest or probability of growing mature. However, throughout the story the immature boy has plenty of encounters which strengthen his character and lead him from boy- to manhood.
Women in the year 2016 have come a long way since 1800s, yet the fight to be completely equal has not been reached. There are two poems, one “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, and “Suicide Note” by Janice Mirihitani that show some gender roles and how unequal they are. Some gender roles are too over the edge and can cause a person’s death because women are seen as object, and women are not seen as valuable as men.
In “The Scarlet Ibis,” written by James Hurst, Doodle, a boy born with health problems, experiences cruel actions from his older brother who wishes Doodle would have been born as normal as possible with no health conditions. As Doodle grows his older brother tries to teach him to be as normal as Doodle portrays to be capable to be, such as teaching him to walk, although this affects Doodle’s health severely, which eventually leads to his early death. The narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” causes Doodle’s death by leaving Doodle in the rain, teaching him things that affects his health, and creating a sense of curiosity.
Ambrose Bierces’ story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” tells the story of a confederate secessionist, who is being hanged by Union troops. At the time of the hanging, the soldiers drop him from the bridge. Luckily, just as he falls the rope snaps and the man dives into the “sluggish stream”. He miraculously takes off his ropes and swims away. When he reaches the bank of the creek, he runs for what seems like forever. He finally reaches home, where his family is waiting so anxiously for him. However, Bierce chooses to surround this intriguing tell with elements that carry visual, concrete, and intangible symbolism. The symbolic elements of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” imply that the protagonist, Peyton Fahrquhar, is out of touch with reality, which evidently leads to the added twist at the end of the story.
In the beginning of the story the boy's mother and father have gotten a divorce. I was a messy affair leaving the mother at the mercy of the father. She has moved on and started dating a man named Dutch with a working class background. The boy, Henry, is away at boarding school awaiting his father's visit that will never happen. The mother desperate to be there for her son tries to convince him to come see her for the holiday. Henry refuses because he blames his mother for not making her marriage work. And this is were the whole thing falls apart. The mother, Mary, decides that she would really like for her son to come to her house. So she sends Dutch to go up and bring the boy to her. So off like a bounty hunter in the old west Dutch goes out to get his man. And our adventure begins.