Who Has Seen The Wind Brian O Connal Character Analysis

In W.O. Mitchell’s novel, Who Has Seen The Wind, there are many similarities and differences to be found between the main character, Brian O’Connal and the mysterious Young Ben. The Young Ben is known to be a loner, the boy of the town drunk. Normally the Young Ben would keep to himself; he never had contact with others, but he took an intriguing to Brian O’Connal. The boys began to develop an unspoken friendship throughout the novel.
In the Novel, Who Has Seen The Wind, the Young Ben and Brian share many similarities, many are traits are that of all young children and others are unique to them. For example they both share qualities such as independences and curiosity. The Young Ben is kind of a lone wolf, he’s a very independent young boy,
Mitchell’s, Who Has Seen The Wind, there are many differences between Brian O’Connal and The Young Ben from the prairie. The Main different between the two boy’s is their home life, Brian’s father Gerald O’Connal is the town’s pharmacist, and a very loving and caring man, on the other hand the Young Ben’s Father, The Ben is a childish and irresponsible drunk. Brian has a caring loving father, who is always home; whereas The Young Ben’s father is only out for himself and is more interested in finding a place for his alcohol still, than caring for his only son. Another example of how the boys differ is their lifestyle, the way they were brought up; Brian was raised in a loving home, whereas the Young Ben household was more of an, everyone fends for themselves. The O’Connal family is more fortunate then the Ben family: “There was no doubt that the Young Ben wanted the gun badly, and the yearning that the Young Ben must feel found its match in the school principal.” The Mother Ben isn’t spoken about much in the novel, although The Ben is describes as very self-interested, he doesn’t care a lot about him family. Then there is the location of the boys bringing up, The Young Ben lives with his parent just outside the small Saskatchewan town on the prairie, and Brian lives in the small town. The Young Ben was first introduced as the “boy on the prairie,” said to just wonder. Another difference between Brian and The Young Ben’s home lives is their mothers. Brian’s mother, Maggie, O’Connal is well involved, and very loving, whereas The Mother Ben is not spoken of a lot in the novel, she doesn’t have a real strong presence, the author does not state if she is a caring mother or not, but we as the reader are giving a sense that The Young Ben is left to fend for himself. For example during an encounter Mr. Digby, the school principal and The Mother Ben had about Mr. Digby’s concern over The Young Ben’s School, The Mother Ben came off as though the matter did not