Comparing A Single Shard And The Year Of The Dog

Growing up is one of life’s greatest adventures with no definite time span. Finding individual identity is a never ending journey, but discoveries are made along the way. The characters in Linda Sue Park’s A Single Shard and Grace Lin’s The Year of the Dog explore the world around them and find themselves in the process. The contrasting characters come from different time periods, family dynamics, ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic status, but they share a common objective; searching for their purpose in life and discovering their personal identity along the way. The lessons learned and the contrast in the background of the characters is what makes this journey so intriguing.
A child’s upbringing and the relationships they build help develop the foundation of who they are as a person. Lin begins
Pacy and her sisters discuss what they want to be when they grow up (p. 12-13). Pacy realizes that she must pick something that she is talented at and so begins her year search to "figure things out." She sets a goal and a specific time frame to achieve it. Tree-Ear’s path is more ambiguous and the goal he sets isn’t directly based on finding himself, but finding something he loves to do. Tree-ear begins working for Min with hope to learn the trade in return. After working many months for Min, his goal seems to be more long term without a definite timeline. Pacy seems more proactive in obtaining her goal and discusses her desires with her family and friend, Melody. She jumps into many new situations and challenges herself, like auditioning for the play and creating a project for the science fair. These situations do not go as planned, but instead of letting them become setbacks, Pacy uses them as building blocks to help her move on to her next venture. She shows her courage by continuing to try new things and pursuing her book