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Comparison Essay between “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” And “The Loons” ,discrimination and fear in the activities

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Comparison Essay

Introduction 

 Flannery O'Connor's ‘A good man is hard to find' from Column A and Margaret Lawrence's ‘The Loons' from Column B has been chosen in this essay for comparison. The story of ‘A good man is hard to find' has based on death whereas the story of ‘The Loons' has highlighted racism throughout the course of the content. The essay will exhibit two similarities between the backgrounds, themes or the use of characters applied in both the stories along with a major difference between these two stories.

Discussion 

The first Similarity between the two stories 

The story ‘The Loon' by Margaret Laurence and ‘A Good Man is hard to find' by Flannery O' Connor is arguably one of the best work of the two writers. In the story, The loon the writer explain the condition of a girl named Piquette Tonnerre of how she finds hard to adept in the life of her new surroundings. In the story, Piqquete condition has been described as similar to the Loon. Like loon birds, Piqquette suffers from being shy and isolated in her own self. In the area in which she lives have been in habitat by the White people. She faces social decontamination as new civilized people have taken over her culture. In the story, ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find' by Flannery O'Connor deals with the religious aspects of life and how it impacts us.  The main theme of the story is death, loss and mortality. In both of the story, the discrimination part is used. As stated by Laurence, (1970), in the story, ‘The Loon’ the discrimination of the whites made a native girl to leave her place. In the story, A Good man is hard to find it deals with the situation of death. Death is the most important theology of Christianity. In the end, when the grandmother is killed by the gang of Misfit it signifies the theme of death clearly. In both, the story the racial discrimination and death have been emphasized.

The Second Similarity between the two stories

The Second Similarity in the two stories can be found on the subject of ‘Fear' within the two main characters of the story. In the story, The Loon by Margaret Laurence the main character Piquette Tonnerre suffers from the fear of social discrimination. She suffers from the anxiety whether she will be accepted in her new surroundings or not. She suffers from the fear of change in her culture and her way of living. She suffers from the discrimination when the whites have taken over her area.  They changed their native habitat and the place of birth where she once lived. In the same way in the story, ‘A Good man is hard to find’ by Flannery O'Connor the theme of fear is clearly seen. In the story, The Grandmother deals with the theme of fear when she comes to know that a local gang named Misfit has escaped from the local jail. This ignites fear in her heart on the well being of her family (O’Connor, 1955). This same fear will ultimately lead to her death at the end of the story. In both, the story the theme of Fear have been clearly seen. This theme of fear made Piquette Tonnerre of the story The Loon being discriminated in her own surroundings. On the other hand, A Good Man is hard to find the theme of fear ultimately leads to the death of The Grandmother.

The dissimilarity between the two stories

The major difference between the ‘A good man is hard to find’ and ‘The Loons’ lies in its use of the themes. Flannery O'Connor has used the theme of death in his one of the literary masterpieces ‘A good man is hard to find'. on the other hand, in the story of ‘The Loons', Margaret Lawrence has applied the theme of racism and its effects on the characters, especially on the protagonist Piquette Tonnerre. In the story of ‘, A good man is hard to find', the writer has demonstrated that death can come anytime while pursuing a life in the modern era. Violence can be discovered anytime in life, which results in death. All the activities done by the characters of ‘A good man is hard to find’ are dominated by the fear of death (O’Connor, 1955). For example, the character grandmother can be chosen who was very frightened because of Misfit's gang. Due to this reason, she has carried her pet cat throughout their journey and she has hid the cat in the car. On the other hand, racism has the main theme used by Margaret Lawrence in her story, ‘The Loons’. As the girl, Piquette Tonnerre is hybrid in the race; the grandmother of Dr McLeod has not accepted her very willingly. Piquette Tonnerre has tuberculosis in her leg. To provide her with the proper treatment, she was invited by the doctor in his house, which was in Diamond Lake (Laurence, 1970). Racism has dominated in the mind of the grandmother of Dr McLeod, which made her oppose to allow the girl to live in that house. Thus, it can be seen that the major difference between these stories is in their themes.

Conclusion

The two stories have many similarities along with major differences. The main two similarities, which have been focused in this essay, are the discrimination and fear in the activities and behaviour of the characters. In both the stories, the characters have felt discriminated from the circumstances. In addition to that, the characters have fear in their minds due to different incidents. On the other hand, the main difference is seen in the themes of the stories. ‘A good man is hard to find’ has used the theme of death and ‘The Loons’ have used the theme of racism throughout the stories. Thus, it is seen that a good number of comparison can be drawn from these two stories.


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