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Short Story Comparison Essay

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Short Story Comparison Essay
Short Story Comparison Essay

After reading “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst and “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara, there are some similarities and differences that stood out. Both stories include disabled brothers. Also, both stories include characters that act out of pride. The stories have different settings and have characters with different motives. The main lesson of this essay is not to let pride take over your character. There are a few similarities the two stories share. First, both stories involve a character with disabilities. In “The Scarlet Ibis” Doodle’s disabilities are described, “The doctor said he mustn’t get to excited, too hot, too cold, or too tired and that he must always be treated gently. A long list of don’ts went with him…” In “Raymond’s Run” Squeaky describes Raymond, “But as any fool can see he’s much bigger and he’s older too. But a lot of people call him my little brother cause he needs looking after cause he’s not quite right.” These two quotes show a similarity in the two stories by explaining the disabilities with each character, Doodle and Raymond. Another similarity the two stories share has to do with pride. In both stories, the main character’s actions are derived from pride. In “Raymond’s Run” Squeaky explains, “There is no track meet that I don’t win the first place medal…The big kids call me mercury cause I’m the swiftest thing in the neighborhood…In the first place, no one can beat me and that’s all there is to it.” In “The scarlet Ibis” the narrator explains, “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…I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” These two quotes show us a similarity because they explain how both characters act and feel they way they do because of pride. As you can see, there are some similarities the two stories share. In addition to

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