Comparing The Old Grandfather And The Wise Old Woman

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Next time you think about avoiding your grandparents, read the folk tales “The Old Grandfather and the Little Grandson” and “The Wise Old Woman.” In both folk tales, the theme the authors portray is to treat your elders with respect. The authors of “The Old Grandfather” and “The Wise Old Woman” develop the theme to respect your elders through the characters, the setting, and the symbolism.

To begin, the characters help to develop the theme in both stories. In “The Old Grandfather,” the author uses the old man, Misha, and the parents to teach you to treat your elders with respect. Misha is the main character that develops the theme. This is because Misha makes a wooden bucket to feed his parents, and then the parents realize they are mistreating the grandfather. In “The Wise Old Woman,” the characters that help to develop the theme are the farmer, the lord, and the old woman. The farmer went against the law to hide his mother and cared for the elderly. On the other hand, the lord was mistreating the …show more content…

The setting in “The Old Grandfather” is in the kitchen. In the kitchen, everyone eats at the table except for the grandfather who sits in the corner on the floor. The kitchen symbolizes togetherness, but in this case, they don’t have everyone together. At the end of the story, they all came together like a real family. In “The Wise Old Woman,” the setting of the story takes place in a village in Japan. In this village, old people that are over 71 years of age are sent to the mountains. This is because the lord doesn’t think that old people are of any good use. The village symbolizes disrespect and seclusion because they do not treat the elderly people with respect, and they take them away from the village. At the end of this story, the lord realizes that old people are wise and can help the village in many ways. Both of the settings help to develop the theme treat your elders with

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